


The Heist

by DopeSolo



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2017-12-25 16:16:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DopeSolo/pseuds/DopeSolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Seattle, Washington, crime runs rampant and bank robberies are at an all time high. For one criminal, things get complicated when she develops feelings for the victim of one of her crew’s previous heists.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Job

**Author's Note:**

> So Listen. I watched The Town and said “Nope. This needs to be O’Solo… and better than this movie.” Not that the movie was bad. But I want to add more…whatever to it. So here’s the attempt at a multi-chapter fic that I actually finish.

“We’re five minutes out,” the driver said. The other four occupants of the mini-van pulled on their motorcycle helmets, the mirrored shields hid their faces completely. They checked their weapons. They had gone over this until they had the routine down in their dreams. Get in. Lock the doors. Clear the clerks from emergency call buttons. Get the money. Get out. Everyone had their job.  
                “If we get pinned down by police cruisers, you go for the engine blocks. You listen for me what to do. Disable and disappear. Got it?” One of the masked people asked, clearly the leader. The others sounded off in the affirmative.  
                “Showtime,” the driver said and pulled into the fire lane. With practiced ease the four got out of the car and before anyone knew anything, Deutsche Bank was under armed robbery.  
                “Everyone on the ground!” The four chorused, their voices distorted by both the helmet and voice distorters that seemed to be mounted inside each helmet. One immediately zip tied the doors shut behind them and began pushing people to the ground, zip tying their hands behind their back. Two of the others immediately ran to the counter, hopped over them with ease and pushed the clerks back to the wall and onto the floor. The fourth swept the rest of the area, pulling two employees from their chairs and shoving them to the floor in the middle along with the other dozen or so civilians.   
                They herded everyone into a circle on the ground and demanded their cell phones. The fourth robber had by then grabbed the water cooler water and hefted it to the group. Another emptied a candy bowl, swept all the phones into it and let the accomplice with the water jug drown the smart phones.  
                “Cash drawers, empty them. Check the bills. Let’s go!” The leader commanded and tossed the water away. The nearly empty jug sloshed water on the floor by the front doors. The leader then turned to the frightened crowd on the ground, “Bank manager!”  
                Immediately, a  young woman, her hair pulled into a bun looked up to the leader. Her freckled face was a mixture of nervousness and shock. “Manager, let’s go. Up on your feet,” The leader of the group commanded and aimed a rifle at her. Another older man also looked up.  
                “She’s the assistant, I’m the mana-” He was cut off when another of the robbers interrupted him.  
                 ”Not you old, man. You stay down!” The robber delivered a kick to the man’s ribs, sending him back to the ground. The crowd gasped and kept their faces pressed to the marble. A few women whimpered, others silently prayed to get out of this alive.  
                The leader pulled the freckled woman to the vault a few feet away. “When does the vault lock alarm disengage for the morning?”  
                “N-nine o’clock,” the young woman answered, her voice shaking.  
                The leader cocked the gun and took a step forward. “It disengages at 8:30 every morning except Sunday. Don’t lie to me again, you understand?” The assistant manager nodded furiously. She looked up at the clock above the vault. 8:29.  The seconds that ticked by were the slowest of the assistant manager’s life. Her hands shook.  
                The leader looked to the clock. Ten more seconds to go. If it was opened prematurely, cops would be swarming the bank quicker than they could cut the zip ties off the doors.

                “Open it. No distress code or everyone in here will be killed.” The voice demanded in a calm tone. The woman nodded and raising one hand, she began the combination, her lips trembling. She dropped her hand away when she over spun the combination lock by a few dashes.   
                “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she whispered frantically.  
                “Is this guy a friend of yours?” A voice yelled from her left and she glanced to Glen, the manager of the bank. The robber raised the barrel of the semi-automatic rifle and pressed it to Glen’s temple. “Open the door or he’s the first to go! Open it!”  
                The assistant manager jumped and took a shaky breath and reached for the dial again and began to spin it to the right. She overshot it again.”I’m sorry,” she repeated. The leader sighed and put their gloved hand over hers. The gun lowered away from her.  
                “Calm down. Take a deep breath and take your time.” She nodded and took a deep, shaking breath and let it out a moment later. The gloved hand pulled away from hers and dropped to the side of the leader’s body.  
                A few seconds later she set the dial to the last number and took a step back. “Good. Good job. Get on the ground,” The leader said, in the same calming tone from earlier. The assistant manager eased down to the ground, hands on the ground under her chin. The marble under her cooled her heated skin. She felt the edge of a piece of wood on her left heel. She took another deep breath.  
                “Get the money. Check  for tracers. Nuke the tapes. Bleach it all.” The leader instructed and the other three fell into their roles again. One of them went into the vault with a duffel bag and began securing the money. Every stack of bills was flipped through, the occasional stack thrown to the wayside, ready to explode with ink or give off their position with its GPS tracker.  
                 The second robber ran into the security room, ejected the tapes and hurried to the break room in the back of the building. They tossed the tapes into the microwave and set the timer for 5 minutes. Instantaneously, the tapes started emitting small sparks and smoke began to pour from each cassette.        The third robber pulled out bottles of bleach from a duffel bag and began dousing everything the crew had touched in bleach, effectively wiping out any traceability. They stuffed the now empty bottles back into the duffel bag and slung it over their shoulder and hurried to stand watch over the hostages.  
                A banging on the front door sounded and the leader and the accomplice in the vault looked up.  
                “Hey, you guys open?” A blurred face pressed to the glass, trying to look through. Thankfully the doors were finished with an opaque frosted finish which couldn’t be seen through from the inside or outside. The person gave a tug again and walked off.  
                The assistant manager slowly tapped the alarm switch with the heel of her foot, hoping that none of the helmeted robbers were watching her through their mirrored visors. She glanced up. The leader’s head was tilted down at her. She held her breath. The leader moved to the group of people and was followed by the individual in charge of the vault money. The duffel was loaded with money and the two stood in front of the group. Finally, the fourth accomplice joined the others, tasks complete.   
                One of them held up a hand and whirled around to the hostages and aimed their gun, causing them to scream again.  
                “Just got word. Police scanner. Someone tripped the alarm! Cops are on their way! Who did it?!” They walked over to the Glen and kicked him over onto his back.  
                “It was you, wasn’t it?!”  
                “No, I didn’t do it! I wasn’t-” Glen was cut off as a boot connected with his temple, two, three times.  
                “God damn it! Calm down!” The leader yelled and quickly pulled the angry accomplice away from the now unconscious man. “We’re leaving. Let’s go!” The leader led the way out to the back door. The other two followed suit and hurried through the doorway.  
                The assistant manager was hauled to her feet. “Where’s your purse?” the robber asked. The manager swallowed hard as she realized this was the same one who had hurt, maybe even killed, Glenn. She nodded to her desk in the corner. The thief pulled her to the desk, grabbed it and threw it across her neck and shoulder. They swooped down to a hostage and yanked off the man’s winter scarf.  The robber pinned the smaller woman to a wall and secured the scarf tightly over her eyes and roughly led her out the back door.

                “The hell is this?!” the leader yelled and the assistant manager’s back went rigid as she was shoved into the vehicle. It was a female voice. The leader was a woman?  
                “Security in case we run into cops,” the second replied, also with a feminine voice.  
                The leader let out an angry growl and took a deep breath. The assistant manager flinched when the leader’s voice ended up nearer than it was previously. “You’re going to be fine. No one’s going to hurt you.”  
                The second voice scoffed and the leader turned an icy glare to her. She in turn rolled her eyes and looked out the back of the utility van. The driver in the front seat glanced to the leader. “Where we going now?”  
                The leader looked to the driver through the rearview mirror and mouthed “Park on the coast.” The driver nodded, her low pony-tail bobbed and switched lanes to take them to the coast, a few miles away. The assistant manager swallowed, unaware of her future. Any jostle of the vehicle sent a fresh wave of panic over her. Kelley O’Hara never thought she would die this young.

————

                Inspector Abby Wambach ducked under the police tape and was immediately met by her colleague, Inspector Heather O’Reilly.   
                “What do we have, HAO?”  
                “They’re professionals,” Heather replied and pulled out her notebook. She led the way into the bank which was now being overrun by the Crime Scene Unit. “They waited for the vault to unarm at 8:30. Everything is bleached. They left the dye packs and tracers behind. Witnesses say their voices were distorted. Robotic.”  
                “Security tapes?” Abby asked, walking over to the vault.  
                “Fried in the microwave. I’m asking the techs to look them over just in case but it’ll be a miracle if we get anything from it.”  
                “Who opened the vault?”  
                “Assistant Manager of the bank. Kelley O’Hara.”  
                “Where is she?” Abby asked, folding her arms and scanning the entire bank.   
                “Operators sent out a unit to pick her up.”  
                “What?” Abby asked and looked to Heather.  
                “She was taken hostage and apparently dumped off over near Madrona Park. Said she found someone with a cell phone, called 911. She’s been taken to HQ.”  
                “Well. Let’s go talk to Miss O’Hara. See if she really is a victim or is part of this master plan,” Abby sighed and rubbed her forehead. She had a feeling this Wednesday morning was about to get a whole lot worse.  
                Twenty minutes later, Wambach headed over to her desk where a still-shaken up Kelley O’Hara sat, hands clasped tightly in her lap. Abby nodded to a nearby uniformed officer, giving her the okay to leave the two of them alone.  
                “Miss O’Hara, I’m Inspector Abby Wambach. I understand you had a helluva morning,” She nodded to someone behind Kelley and a young woman walked up and unfolded an ink pad and fingerprint card. “We’re going to need to take prints to eliminate yours from the scene.”  
                Kelley nodded and let the woman take prints from her right hand. She watched as the tech pressed each finger onto the ink pad and expertly roll each digit onto the card. Abby cleared her throat.  
“I’ve read from your preliminary statement that you were abducted after the robbery.”                 
                Kelley nodded.  
                “I understand they threatened you?” Abby asked, making a note in the file.  
                “They, they took my license.”  
                “Did you try and escape at any point?”  
                Kelley’s eyebrows crinkled in mild confusion. “They had guns. No, I didn’t try and escape. They had me tied up. Blindfolded.”  
                Abby nodded. “Is there anything you can identify about these men?”  
                Kelley licked her lips and wiped her hands with the Kleenex offered to her from the tech as she finished up with her prints. “Three of the voices I heard were women.”  
                “Women?” Abby seemed surprised. “There were four armed suspects, correct?”  
                “Yes,” Kelley said, her gaze focused on her shaking hands.   
                “Okay. Good. That helps,” Abby made another note. “Could you tell from physical appearance alone if the fourth suspect was also female?”  
                Kelley shrugged. “I’m not sure. They all had on boots and black military gear. Helmets. Their voices were distorted until we got into the car. But they were all slim. Fit. They could’ve all been women, I don’t know,” Kelley shook her head.   
                Abby nodded. “I understand. Did they say anything else to you in the vehicle?”  
                Kelley’s hands shook a lot more, she clamped them together. “They said… They said that if I talk to the police or FBI, that they’d come into my house and kill me.”  
                Abby nodded and leaned forward. “That’s not going to happen. Don’t worry. We’ll catch these assholes.”

———-

                Ten miles away five women sat around a small round table on a patio.   
                “Since when do we take hostages?” Asked one of the women.  
                “We don’t Pinoe,” the leader replied her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her piercing blue eyes met with the brunette across from her. “Carli, what the hell were you thinking?”  
                “I said we needed security. Some leverage,” Carli added. She uncrossed her arms and dug into her pocket and tossed a card onto the table. “I got her license. She lives a mile from here. We can keep an eye on this…” she glanced at the ID, “Kelley O’Hara. It’ll be fine, Hope.”  
                Hope rubbed her temples. “This wouldn’t be an issue if you would just listen and stick to the plan. You do ridiculous shit like this and you’re not only risking your life, you’re risking mine, Pinoe’s” she pointed to the bleach blonde. “Alex, and Tobin’s!” She pointed to the two youngest women who sat on either side of her.  
                “Are we going to be running into her on the street?” Alex asked as she studied the ID on the table.  
                “You want me to take care of her? I’ll take care of her. It’ll be done with,” Carli sighed and re-crossed her arms.   
                “You already have two strikes against you,” Hope said and snatched up the ID. She looked at the freckled smiling face. “You get picked up for intimidating a witness and they’re throwing your ass in prison for the rest of your life. I’ll clean this mess up.”  
                Carli at least had the sense to know when she was wrong. “Fine. Okay.”  
                “How much did we get anyway?” Tobin asked, speaking up for the first time since asking about where to drive their hostage earlier that morning.  
                “70 grand each,” Rapinoe spoke up. “Before each of us gives a cut to the Coach”  
                The women nodded. The Coach, a white-haired mustached Scotsman ran almost every illegal venue in the Northwest. You didn’t pull of a bank robbery, a hit, or a kidnapping without his approval; without his intel. As a result of his longstanding run in the business, it was almost the norm to be born into this lifestyle knowing that you owed this man a debt that never seemed to take out any red from the ledger. He had the power, people, and money. The Coach dictated who did what and dictated whether or not the cops - or worse, his men - would find you if you did something that rubbed him the wrong way.  
                “Anything on the news yet about the bank?”  
                “Usual stuff,” Alex started off and stood up. “Bank robbery in downtown Seattle. Four armed robbers. Tons of money stolen. No leads.” She wandered into the condo and Tobin followed a few seconds later.   
                Hope nodded and walked over to the railing of the patio. She scanned the neighborhood streets around her. Taking Kelley O’Hara as a hostage threw a wrench in her plans. Hope wanted to be done with this life. Pay The Coach some ridiculous amount to wipe her slate clean, then move somewhere. Away from the Northwest. But now, she sighed, she’d have to take care of one piece that had no room in the puzzle she had before her.


	2. The Impact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The job was finished within minutes. 
> 
> The impact would forever change the future.

Four days had passed since the robbery. Like the experienced criminals they were, the four women were able to rotate the money and turn it around for fresh cash. They hit casinos, exchanged hundreds and fifties for chips and after playing for a short while, cashed in chips for new money that could never link them to the bank. 

                Hope and Carli parked in front of a sports equipment shop on the outskirts of downtown Seattle. Carli led the way into the shop. A bell dinged above the door upon their entry and a large burly man behind the counter stood up. He nodded to the women. 

                “Benny,” Carli greeted. “Coach in?”

                “Tom!” Benny called out to the back area. A white haired man walked out, hands in his track jacket pockets.

                “Ladies,” he greeted the women. Carli pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head. Hope stayed silent. She hated the smug attitude of the old man and more than anything, hated coming to his shop.

                “For you,” Carli said. She pulled out a paper bag from her purse and handed it to Tom. He wordlessly took it, waved it at the women in a gesture of thanks. Carli nodded and Tom turned around and headed back into his office. Benny took a seat on his stool, his eyes never leaving Hope. He never liked her. She never liked him. She turned on her heel and walked out of the store with Carli trailing behind. 

                “Later Benny.”

                “Later Lloyd.” With the delivery of Tom’s cut of their profits, the easy parts were officially taken care of.

                Now came the tough part. Hope sat in her SUV and watched the entrance of Kelley O’Hara’s apartment building. She’d been sitting in her car for the better part of two hours. Was the assistant manager even home? Hope sighed and took a swig of her Gatorade which by now had grown lukewarm in the vehicle. She was just about to give up and call it a day when Kelley emerged. Hope watched the young woman, her arms loaded with a laundry basket full of clothes, walk to her car and deposit the basket into the trunk of a small white car. Kelley got into the driver’s seat and pulled her car out into the street. Hope started her own vehicle and followed at a fair distance.

                Ten minutes later, Kelley had parked at a small laundromat in the center of a mini-shopping center. Hope parked a good distance away and once again, watched Kelley as she made her way inside with her laundry. Hope waited another twenty minutes before she emerged from her own car and crossed the relatively full parking lot. She walked inside and scanned the area. Kelley was in the corner, her back to Hope. Perfect.

                Hope casually made her way down a row and found a row of empty chairs and sat in one. She grabbed a newspaper from the empty seat next to her and opened it. She watched the freckled woman out of her peripheral vision. Hope had no idea what she was doing. What was her next move? She followed Kelley here and now what? Hope sighed and pursed her lips. 

                “Excuse me,” a voice interrupted her thoughts. Hope looked up and found herself staring into Kelley’s eyes. “Are you doing laundry?”

                “What?” Hope asked, confused.

                “Sorry, I uh, ran out of quarters. The machine’s out,” Kelley explained, wringing her hands.

                “Can’t help you,” Hope said and returned her gaze to the newspaper. 

                “Okay. Sorry to bother you,” Kelley murmured and turned to begin folding her damp clothes. “I’ll let them dry at home,” she almost seemed to say to herself. Hope glanced over and watched the shorter woman begin folding different pieces of clothing on the table three feet away. She lifted a shirt and dropped it immediately. Kelley’s eyebrows knitted together and she took a few deep breaths. She shut her eyes.

                Hope looked to the white button down top. It was stained with a few splatters of dried blood. Immediately Hope’s mind went back to watching Carli lose her temper and her kicking-rampage that bloodied the bank manager. Hope snapped out of her when she heard Kelley let out a small sob.

                “Hey, you all right?” Hope asked. 

                Kelley immediately nodded and threw the unfolded shirt into a nearby trash can and crossed her arms over her middle, as if hugging herself. Hope saw the woman’s hands shake even more. “I’m fine,” Kelley let out in a choked whisper, her voice cracked.

                “You sure?” Hope asked, and tossed her newspaper to a vacant seat. She stood up and slowly approached Kelley.

                “I’m fine, I’m fine. Sorry, I just-” She put a hand over her eyes. She let out a forced laugh. “This is embarrassing,” she dropped her hands and looked up at Hope for a split second. Her gaze immediately dropped back to the damp pile of clothes before her.

                “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Do you uh, need any help?” Hope asked. She watched the quick rise and fall of Kelley’s shoulders as the woman forced herself to take calming breaths. Kelley shook her head in the negative. “Just um, having a bad week. That’s all.”

                Hope gave a small nod, not taking her eyes off of Kelley’s face. “I understand. I like to have a good cry at the auto shop,” Hope said.

                Kelley laughed and wiped her eyes. She sniffled a bit but the smile remained on her face. It was a gorgeous smile. The kind that could force a person to do whatever was asked of them, if only it meant seeing that beaming grin. Hope continued on. “I just open right up to the grease-covered men. They’re like therapists. The free coffee helps too.” Kelley laughed some more. Encouraged by this, Hope kept it up. “You like the laundromat. That’s fine. Everyone has their special place, I guess.”

                Kelley finally turned her gaze from the table top and looked up to Hope. Hope grinned. “Listen. Why don’t you let me buy you a drink? Give me a chance to make up for the quarters and I don’t know. Maybe we can turn your shitty week around?”

 

——-

 

                A door was kicked open and police swarmed a small, dingy apartment. Two people on the couch sprung to their feet. “Seattle PD, freeze!” Abby yelled and the two adults threw their hands in the air while officers immediately put them into custody. 

                Abby stood over the man and woman and glanced at the table. “How many hundreds of dollars would you say all these drugs are worth?” Abby looked to the sweating man.

                “I want my lawyer.” The man grumbled.

                “Listen. I’m willing to overlook this,” Abby waved her hand at the table, “If you give me some information.

                “Whaddya mean?”

                “You’ve heard about the bank robbery earlier this week, haven’t you?” Abby asked and took a seat on the recliner. “Of course you have Jimmy. You did time for a bank heist what, ten years ago? I know you still keep your nose where it doesn’t belong. Give me some info on who did it and I won’t have to charge you for illegal drug possession.” 

                The offer was tempting and Jimmy didn’t hesitate to negotiate. “I don’t know who did it. Word on the street is that it was five chicks. No one has dropped any names.”

                “How do you know it was five?”

                “I don’t know. But that’s what I hear. Four to pull off the job, one on the outside. Most of the fellas robbing trucks have four men. They rob trucks. Not banks. This time it was five broads.”

                Abby nodded. At least now she had a number. That, coupled with the story from Kelley O’Hara that she heard female voices was beginning to point her in the right direction. It was time to do homework. Being able to find five women, most likely all of them with priors AND who happened to run in the same circle wouldn’t be a hard task. If you found one, you’d be able to find the others. The hardest part would be finding the first woman.

                “Thanks Jimmy. You’ve been a ton of help.” Abby stood up and made her way to the front door. 

                “Hey, you gonna let us out of these cuffs?”

                Abby shrugged. “I said I’d be willing to overlook your drug party here. I never said my partner would overlook it.” She waved and walked out.

                Heather walked in with three officers and hauled the two junkies to their feet. Jimmy let loose a colorful shout, dictating exactly what he thought about Inspector Wambach and her tactics.

 

——-

 

That evening, Hope stood at the base of the stairs leading up to Kelley’s apartment. The younger woman emerged from the building in jeans, boots and a sweater. Her hair was down. She looked to Hope and smiled.

                “Hey there,” Hope greeted. She pushed herself off the stair railing as Kelley made it to the bottom. Hope led the way to her car and the two got in. Kelley took a deep breath. Hope looked over to the shorter woman before she even turned on the car. “Having second thoughts about this?” Hope asked quietly.

                Kelley shook her head. “I just… I need to get something off my chest otherwise I can tell you already that my head is going to be somewhere else tonight and I won’t be paying attention to a thing you’ve said all night.”

                Hope gave a slow single nod. “All right. What is it?”

                Kelley looked down at her hands and clasped them together. “A few days ago.. The bank I work at was robbed by four people. They had guns. One of them put my manager into ICU. They made me open the vault, took all of the money, and then,” she took a deep breath. “They took me hostage. They blindfolded me. Drove me around for a while. Then… they forced me out of the car and,” She swallowed hard. “One of the women told me to walk until I felt water on my toes. It was the longest walk of my life,” Kelley said quietly. She fidgeted with one of her rings. “I didn’t know whether or not the next step I took would be a step right off a cliff. The situation at the bank wasn’t nearly as terrifying as walking those few steps.” Hope watched Kelley’s gaze drift off, clearly remembering the experience. “Then… Then I felt the water. I took off the blindfold. They had long since left and I was alone on the shoreline.” She looked up and looked into Hope’s eyes.

                “I’m sorry,” Hope said.

                Kelley let out a small smile. “It’s not your fault. Anyway. The investigator I talked to said that I’d feel like I’m in mourning for a while.”

                “Investigator? Are you working with the cops?” Hope asked, keeping her voice calm. 

                Kelley nodded. “The detective has been working on a lot of cases like this in the Northwest. They were a little thrown off when I said that some of the robbers were women.”

                “Women?”

                “Yeah. Weird right? You always assume it’s men that rob banks.”

                “Very weird,”  Hope agreed. “This inspector. Does she stop by and check on you and call you?” Kelley nodded. “Do they have any clues? Any suspects?”

                “None so far. Or if they do they haven’t told me. They said they’re shaking down all of Seattle. Hitting informants and other criminals. But they don’t have many clues from what I can assume. I didn’t even know the robbers were women until I was in the van.” At Hope’s raised eyebrow she continued on. “They had on these motorcycle helmets but in the bank their voices were totally distorted. Like a really creepy auto-tune effect.

                “Wow. Shit.” Hope muttered and looked forward.

                “Yeah. But, I heard their real voices. When they had me in the car… or van. Whatever. Maybe if I hear them again I’ll be able to pinpoint who it was.”

                “Yeah. Maybe you will.” 

                “Anyway. That’s why I was a mess earlier today… and might continue to be a mess for a while. Fair warning to kick me out now with no hard feelings,” Kelley offered.         

                The older woman turned to Kelley and smiled, “Buckle up.”

 

                The women were seated in a booth at a small sushi restaurant. Hope pulled off her leather coat and tossed it onto the empty space next to her. Kelley unwrapped her scarf from around her neck and set it next to her purse. They placed their food and drink orders and relaxed into easy conversation.

                “So what do you do for work?” Kelley asked and sipped her water.

                “I’m a personal trainer at a gym downtown.”

                “So you’re going to totally judge my sushi and sake intake?” Kelley joked. 

                Hope smiled, “Not at all. Sushi is my weakness. I always over eat when it comes to this stuff.” She glanced over to the chefs who were busy preparing various rolls behind the counter. 

                “Please,” Kelley scoffed. “You have the perfect physique. I doubt you’ve ever overeaten in the past five years.”                

                Hope turned her gaze back to Kelley and chuckled. “If only you knew.” 

                Kelley laughed, the freckles around her eyes and mouth shifted as a huge smile lit up her face. Hope was digging herself deeper and deeper every second. This definitely wasn’t supposed to be the plan when it came to making sure Kelley never linked her or her team to the bank robberies. If anything, Hope was pressing her luck when she had no luck to gamble with in the first place. Then again, Hope would never turn down a challenge if the goal was worth it. Right now, however, she wasn’t exactly sure whether or not that goal had something to do with Kelley O’Hara.

                The server came back with warm sake and beer for the two of them. Hope watched the server pour each of them a serving of sake and fill their glasses with beer. When Hope glanced to Kelley, she caught the younger woman staring back at her with an odd look on her face. Hope swallowed. “Something wrong?”

                “No,” Kelley said and smiled easily. “At the risk of sounding like an idiot and embarrassing myself for a second time today, I just um… I’m kind of glad I had a mini melt down earlier. You’re easy to talk to and I just get a good vibe from you. Thanks for this. You’re probably someone who just racks up tons of good karma by doing a ton of nice things for strangers.”

                A corner of Hope’s mouth lifted while inside, her heart thumped a little harder than normal. Kelley had no idea how incredibly wrong she was. She cleared her throat. “No thanks necessary.”


	3. Dealing With It

Hope sat at her usual spot in the corner of a local bar. She watched two too-muscled for their own good men in suits recount various outstanding plays of the day. The front door opened, letting daylight cast into the dim bar. In walked Carli, hands shoved in her coat pocket. She greeted the bartender and wandered over to take a seat next to Hope.  
                "How's it going?" Carli asked.  
                Hope kept her eyes on a replay of a miraculous catch that some player on a team she cared even less about made. "Not bad. You?" Hope asked.  
                "Same," Carli settled into silence and nodded in thanks when the bartender brought her her usual beer.  "You uh, check on that thing?"  
                "That thing?" Hope asked, confused. She sipped her coffee. It was too early for her to drink. Even if it was already past five in the evening.  
                "The license," Carli muttered and took a pull from the beer bottle. Hope's eyes left the TV and landed on Carli.  
                "Yeah. It was nothing. Dead end."  
                "No need to remove her from the equation?"  
                Hope raised an eyebrow, not really believing her ears. "What? Are you some... some hired gun now?"  
                Carli shrugged and peeled at her bottle's label. "I just don't want any loose ends, Hope."  
                Hope scoffed into her coffee and took a sip. "Are you just asking to get back into prison? They might even bring out the electric chair just for you."  
                "I'm just saying. We can't blow this. It's a new situation and I want it dealt with properly," Carli said. She turned her body to Hope, "We can't leave a trail behind."  
                "Well you're the one who left the breadcrumbs by taking her with us," Hope said.  
                "And now I'm dealing with it."  
                "No, I'm dealing with it. I dealt with it. It's fine." Hope said in a tone that left no room for argument. She turned her icy gaze to Carli. "We're fine. Got it?"  
                Carli nodded and turned her attention to the TV finally. "Got it."

 

\-----

                "You can see here where they cut the wires that would otherwise trigger different alarms and send live feed to an offsite recorder," A middle aged man explained, pointing to a group of severed wires in the alleyway behind the bank.  
                "Where do you learn something like that?" Abby asked as she made a note in her notebook.  
                "You get a job with us at VeraCast," the man answered, "It's not really something you learn off of watching a few Do It Yourself YouTube videos."  
                "Perfect. Thanks, Don." Abby said and made her way over to Heather who was writing a few notes down by their squad car.  
                "We're going to subpoena everyone's work logs from VeraCast. Let's start with people who've worked in this area of town for the past month. Check their work history and personal history out."  
                Heather nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. "Good plan. We'll get 'em."  
                Abby nodded and turned the key. One step forward, even a small one, was sometimes all that it took to crack a case wide open.  
  
\-----

                "I lied to the investigator the other day," Kelley started. She ran a hand through her hair, obviously nervous.  
                "What? What do you mean?" Hope asked, her chest clenching. She pushed around the pasta on her plate, red sauce smearing this way and that.  
                "They asked if there was anything I could identify about these people robbing the bank. When one of the robbers attacked our manager, someone else stepped in and pulled them back by the collar of their jacket. I saw a tattoo on the back of their neck. Her neck, I guess. The police said the entire crew was women... But anyway. I saw a tattoo of a zodiac sign. Cancer."  
                "You're sure it was that?" Hope asked, heart sinking.  
                Kelley nodded. "My roommate in college had the exact same one. Except on her wrist. She was way into astrology."  
                Hope drew in a deep breath. Carli absolutely had a cancer tattoo on her neck. She cursed herself for being so careless. She cursed Carli for unknowingly throwing another wrench in their plans just because she couldn't contain her temper and just _had_ to turn the manager into punting practice.  
                "I'm afraid that if I report it. If they find these people. They'll make me testify. What do you think I should do?"  
                Hope sighed and let the air in her lungs escape slowly out of her mouth. "Tell the cops. If the woman has a record, which I'm sure she does. They'll have her tattoo on file. They'll bring her down to the station the next day. Robbery. Weapons. Assault. She'll get 30 years minimum. But... they'll worry that someone will come looking for the witness so the cops will put you in some sort of witness protection program. Change your name. Move you to Arizona or Ohio. Somewhere safe until they need you." Kelley's eyes widened a bit. "Or," Hope started and pushed her plate aside, done with the cold noodles. She leaned forward a bit, her eyes locked on the freckled face in front of her. "You could wait. You have a card and you don't have to play it this very second. The cops just want to wrap this case up, go home to their suburban houses and be done with it. You have to look out for yourself, Kel."  
                "You sound like an expert on this sort of thing," Kelley said.  
                Hope swallowed and let out a chuckle, "Not really. I uh, have a thing for crime novels. James Patterson. Cop shows on TV. Law  & Order and all of that, y'know? Actually, I probably am an expert by now," she grinned.  
                "You're well-prepared."  
                "Absolutely. Bones also is a good reference. CSI too."  
                Kelley laughed and put her hand on Hope's. "Thanks. Maybe if I end up having to testify I can keep you in the front row to feed me signs on what to say or do."  
                Hope smiled and looked down at the smaller hand on her own. She turned her hand so that they were palm to palm. "Guess we better work out our signals so that nothing gets confused."  
                Kelley nodded and glanced down to their hands. "Mixed signals could be the worst."  
                Hope squeezed her hand and ran a thumb over Kelley's knuckles. "We can't have that."  
  
                Hope held Kelley's hand after they both got out of her SUV and they began wandering down the block toward Kelley's apartment. "So, I feel like we know each other well enough for me to say that for a personal trainer, you kind of have a ridiculously nice car."  
                Hope smiled, "I um, I have a thing for really nice cars. The payments are awful. It leaves me eating ramen when car payment time comes every month. But hey, if you have problems with your little Honda I can always give it a tow."  
                "How'd  you know I have a Honda?" Kelley asked, genuinely confused.  
                Hope's throat clenched. She felt a small blush rise on her cheeks and was glad for the cold air outside that had incidentally turned Kelley's cheeks into a shade of pink as well. "You... you drive a Honda?"  
                "Yeah. A Honda Civic."  
                "No way. I totally guessed it."  
                "How?"  
                "I don't know. Respectable job. Nice neighborhood. There's 10 Hondas on this block alone," Hope gestured with a nod down the block. "Lucky guess?"  
                "Well, You're a good guesser. I had a Civic, anyway."  
                "Had?"  
                "I don't know. It got vandalized the other day. I had to walk an hour to work and ended up going through a pretty crappy neighborhood. And there were these guys and it was just..." she shrugged. Hope stopped walking and tugged Kelley to a stop.  
                "Guys? What guys?"  
                "I don't know if it's the same guys who slashed my tires but I don't know..." she bit her lip and turned her gaze to the sidewalk between them. Hope took a small step forward and ducked her head to be eye level with Kelley.  
                "What happened?"  
                "They started yelling some things and became aggressive."  
                Hope's jaw clenched. "What?"  
                "They threw a few bottles at me. Toward me. Basically let me know that I wasn't cool enough to walk through their neighborhood."  
                "They threw bottles?" Hope almost growled out. Her shoulders tensed up. Kelley seemed to notice the change in her demeanor and smiled. She put a hand to her own chest.  
                "I'm fine. Totally okay. I just take the long way around now. Not a big deal. I promise." Kelley said and put a hand on Hope's arm. Instantly Hope felt an instant reaction and calmed down. She let out a breath.  
                "Well. I'm glad you're okay. I guess... it's just something that happens. Do you uh, remember what they look like?"  
                Kelley shrugged. "It was over on Blake Street. These two guys. Hispanic. Shaved heads. Tattoos of skulls all over their arms. I don't think I'm going to report it though. What do I say? Two assholes scared me?"  
                Hope pursed her lips and shrugged. "Yeah. I guess there's nothing you really can do at this point. C'mon. Let's get you inside."  
                Kelley nodded and they walked the rest of the block in an almost comfortable silence. Hope was still silently fuming. The idea that anyone else had put Kelley into any kind of danger bothered her beyond belief. Her hypocrisy turned on her and she felt the guilt of the bank robbery eating away inside of her coupled with the lie she was living every second she spent with Kelley. Three weeks of seeing each other on a fairly regular basis and Hope knew so much more about Kelley while she purposely left Kelley in the dark about most things, or just plain lied to keep her charade going another day.  
                They reached the bottom of the stoop that lead toward Kelley's building.  
                "Thanks for tonight. Sorry to ruin the evening with my weird story."  
                "You didn't ruin it at all," Hope said. "I'm glad you told me. I wish I could do something about it."                 
                Kelley let out a big smile, the kind that instantly lifted Hope's mood. "I know. I appreciate it. But it's over with and there's no use pursuing it."  
                Hope nodded to the ground. Kelley took a step forward. "You're cute when you're overprotective."  
                Hope let out a small scowl. "I'm not overprotective."  
                "Hmm. I'm sure it's just all those crime novels and cop shows that are rubbing off on you," Kelley said and pulled the lapels of Hope's pea coat until the two had no room between the two of them. "Officer Solo kind of has a nice ring to it. Maybe you should be a cop."  
                Hope grinned down at Kelley. "I don't think I could cut it as one."  
                Kelley played with a lapel with on hand. "I'm sure you could."  
                Hope grasped Kelley's hand with her own. "Maybe. But I'm okay with things being just the way they are right at this moment in time."  
                Kelley looked into Hope's eyes, her own gaze flicking to Hope's mouth for a millisecond. "Me too."  
                Hope leaned her head down and captured Kelley's lips in a slow, soft kiss. Kelley's free hand moved from her lapel to wrap itself around Hope's neck. Hope in turned wrapped her free arm around Kelley's waist and pulled the shorter woman closer to her. In the end it was a very chaste kiss that could have developed into more had a car not driven by with teenage boys whistling at the women.  
                Kelley giggled and took a step away. She gestured behind her with a thumb over her shoulder. "I better get inside. Be careful driving."  
                Hope nodded, her lips still tingled from the feel of Kelley's softer than soft lips on her own. "Always. Sleep tight."

  
\----

                Hope drove straight to Carli's apartment and let herself in with a spare key. Carli was doing sit-ups in her living room, the TV playing something on the History Channel. Some guy in an awful suit with even worse hair was talking about aliens. She looked to Hope, exhaling and inhaling as she lifted herself up and down from the floor.  
                "I need you to do me a favor. You can't ask me why we're doing it, you can't ever bring it up again. We're going to hurt some people and that's it." Hope said, her fists clenched. Carli stopped her sit-ups and leaned her elbows on her knees.  
                "Whose car we taking?"

                The two women made their way up a few flights of stairs and stood on each side of a door. They pulled on their motorcycle helmets and gloves and knocked on the door.  
                "Who is it?" a voice inside asked.  
                "It's " Hope called out. The door opened a bit and she shoved her way inside, knocking one man to the ground. Carli immediately followed, armed with a baseball bat and took a few swings at the man. Hope meanwhile tackled the second man in the apartment to the ground and used her leverage to land solid punches to his face, not stopping until she heard the crack of his nose in the room.  
                "How's that feel? Does it hurt?" She asked and stood up. She kicked him in the ribs and stomped on his skull-covered elbow. "Is this your throwing arm?" She asked and stomped on his other arm. "Or is this?"  
                The man howled in pain and tucked himself into a fetal position. "I want you out of here in a week, do you understand?" She asked. She glanced to Carli who had her baseball bat resting on a shoulder. "Let's go. We're done."  
                Carli glanced to Hope then to the tattoo-covered men on the grown who were groaning in pain. She kneeled down next to the one Hope had taken care of. "What'd you do to get my partner her so riled up?"  
                "I don't know what you're talking about," the man groaned.  
                Carli let another blow fly to the man's ribs and stood up and nodded. "You know. You should also know my partner here is always serious. We have our eyes on you. Get your ass to the east coast." She made her way out of the apartment and Hope followed and closed the door behind her. They made their way down the stairs, their footsteps drowned out by the various music thumping from behind closed doors.  
                They threw their gear into the trunk of Carli's car and got inside. True to her word, Carli didn't ask a single question and Hope felt a sense of calm wash over her. The men would be long gone soon enough and Kelley wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. If only the rest of her problems could be solved so easily.


	4. A Sunny Day Like This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while. Work and life has been getting in the way lately.

Abby handed Heather a cup of coffee as she sat down at her desk. Heather nodded her thanks and took a long pull of the hot liquid. "We got anything yet?" Abby asked as she settled in to a comfortable position. Her desk was stacked with papers and somewhere beneath the piles, were a keyboard, mouse and telephone. She glanced across to Heather's desk which faced her own. It was immaculate. Complete with a coaster.  
                "It's been a productive morning actually," Heather said and set her coffee on the coaster. Abby leaned forward in her chair, eyebrows raised. Heather tossed her a manila envelope and leaned back in her chair.  
                Abby flipped open the envelope and looked at the photo that was paper clipped to the inside. "Megan Rapinoe?" Abby asked as she examined the photo. The bleach blonde woman stared back at her, unsmiling. It was a copy of her VeraCast employee badge.  
                "Rapinoe's been with the company for a few years. Never spent a day in jail but when I had the team look at attendance records of the company versus bank heist days in the city, this gal stuck out. There seems to be an interesting coincidence. And unfortunately all video and camera evidence is always destroyed so we can't make any real comparisons beyond that."  
                Abby read through the short report on Rapinoe. Her technological know-how was impressive and fit the bill as far as being able to hack and work on bank's alarm systems from the outside. It was a lead. It was more than they had yesterday. Abby blew out a breath. "Well. Now we can start the real work. Let's get a surveillance on this Rapinoe and see what she's up to. We'll see who she hangs out with. My bet is that it's with the same group of people all the time. "  
                Heather nodded in agreement and took another sip of her coffee. Their day was just beginning but it was the first real breakthrough for the Seattle Police Department in the string of what seemed to be perfect heists and getaways.

\-----

                Across town, Hope sat on an overturned bucket and watched Kelley pluck a few weeds out of the ground. There was an abundance of community gardens in Seattle and this one in particular was close to Kelley's home and had delicious vegetables and beautiful flowers growing over every inch.  
                "So," Kelley said as she tossed a weed into a bag, "Are your parents from the area?"  
                Hope fiddled with her paper coffee cup, nail running over the ridges of the protective sleeve. "Yeah. Born and raised. My mom lives out in the suburbs though. She hates the city and does her best to avoid it at all costs."  
                Kelley let out a grin and began pulling at another crop of weeds. "What about your dad?" When she didn't receive a reply, she looked up at Hope who kept her eyes on the lid of her coffee. She opened her mouth, ready to apologize for bringing up what was obviously a sore topic for Hope.  
                "He wasn't around much," Hope shrugged. She let out a heavy sigh and bounced a leg up and down.  
                Kelley locked eyes with her for a moment. "Okay," Kelley said and knew she had pushed too far. She turned her attention back to digging up weeds.  
                "He had a rough life growing up. Served in the army. Ended up with my mom and I don't know. He didn't really know how to be a parent. They divorced when I was six." Hope swallowed. She hadn't told anyone what she was about to tell Kelley.  
                "It was the sound that woke me up," She continued on. She kept her gaze on the black lid. It was easier talking to her coffee than having to look up into Kelley's eyes that she could feel were trained on her. "I heard my mom flat out bawling downstairs. My brother was still asleep so I went down and there she was in the kitchen. She had a glass of, I don't know, whiskey I guess... and she was smoking. Probably had been for a while. I can still smell the smoke. I can see that little pile of cigarette butts in that ugly orange ash tray. She must've heard me come into the room because she wiped at her eyes and it smudged her makeup a ton. She looked at me and said 'Your father is gone. He's not coming back.' Just like that." Hope took a sip of her coffee, letting the hot liquid burn her tongue.  
                "The year before we lost our dog. After my dad left, I wanted to make posters and put them up around town. I thought that maybe someone would find him kind of like the guy who found our dog." Hope scoffed. "To this day my mom will tell anyone she helped me make those posters. She didn't. She just sat there, whiskey or vodka in hand and watched me work on those posters. Or she was passed out on the couch with a cigarette still lit. I'm surprised our house never burned down. Especially when I was out on the streets asking people if they'd seen my dad.  
                My grandparents had this little ranch in Morrison, Colorado. They had horses and a bit of land. They sold Christmas trees and firewood in the winter. It was nothing special. But from the photos I got to see once in a while, I just... I don't know. I had it in my head that of all the places in the world, my dad probably went there. A few years later I finally came to terms that it didn't really matter where he ended up. He could still be in Seattle, he could be in Colorado, or Canada or maybe even dead. He didn't want to be my dad anymore and he wasn't ever coming back." She shrugged and let out a breath. "So... that's my little bit of family history." She let out a small smile. "But I'm still not showing you my apartment."  
                Kelley grinned and stood up. She dusted her knees off and walked to Hope and put one hand on her hip and motioned for the coffee. "How bad can it be?"  
                Hope only smiled back and gave Kelley the cup.

\-----

                Abby clicked a button on the remote and Megan Rapinoe's employee badge filled half of the screen in the meeting room, while the other half was clearly a surveillance photo of the blonde. In the photo she was with a group of women in an open backyard, manning the grill of a barbecue. Other women around her seemed to be in different conversations.  
                "This is Megan Rapinoe," Abby addressed the room of inspectors. "Systems tech at VeraCast. Twenty-eight years old." Another click and a photo of a tanned brunette in a messy ponytail filled the screen. "Tobin Heath. Twenty-five. Never met a car she couldn't boost. She's the kind of talented sort of individual who can get into your locked brand new car and be a mile down the road by the time you've found your keys at the bottom of your purse." She hit the remote again.  
                "Alex Morgan. Twenty-four. Small priors. Youngest one of the bunch. Not much history on her aside from a few minor thefts as a juvenile. We think she's running with this group to learn the ropes and get rich quick. Probably under the oldest women's wings." She tossed the remote to Heather.  
                "Carli Lloyd," Heather took over and glanced at the mug shot that was coupled with an arrest record on the screen. "Thirty-one. A rap sheet as long as this conference table. Her father was killed in prison. Mother died of HIV when Lloyd was a kid. Shot Andrew Kershing in a cemetery when she was 17. When asked why she did it, Lloyd said that she just didn't like Kershing. Served 9 years in prison."  
                "These women plan and execute with flawless precision and discipline at every bank job they pull off." Abby said and pointed to a board listing dates and banks with a few grainy photos. "But it's not because of Lloyd. The architect behind all of this is this woman, Hope Solo. Lloyd's best friend." A surveillance photo of Hope at the barbecue came up on the screen and Abby turned over a poster board filled with more photos and information. "Solo lives on the same block as Lloyd. The two go way back. Back to The Coach."  
                Heather pointed at a photo of the white-haired crime boss. "The Coach used to employ Solo's mother for random drug mule purposes. Solo's mother, Maggie, got life in prison for, if some of you are old enough to remember, one of the biggest weapons and drug busts Seattle had seen in decades. She was part of a team that hijacked an armored vehicle with plans on getting across the border to Canada. One of the truck guards saw their faces and were executed with their own weapons. These people were the reason for a new rule put into place with all armored trucks. You do not get out of the truck even if your partner has a gun to their head."  
                "Like mother like daughter, Solo fell into crime around age 18 with a small burglary of a convenience store after her chances at pro soccer got washed up." Heather said.  
                "Pro soccer?" One of the investigators asked.  
                "Yeah. Solo actually held a high school record as a forward and was set at University of Washington for a couple of years as a goalkeeper. She was going to be drafted across seas to play professional women's soccer. She sustained a massive shoulder injury one year, had a falling out with her coaches and teammates over a big playoff game and was essentially blacklisted. No one picked her up so she came back to Seattle and started stirring the pot and falling into the family business. Dropped out of U-Dub in her senior year," Heather finished.  
                "Now," Abby said and glanced at the photo of all of the women at the barbecue, this time, each of their names was under each suspect. "We don't have enough evidence right now for a grand jury. Since there's no actual evidence we could submit to a court regarding these women, we need to build this case from the ground up. They have to slip up sometime. But we can't rely on luck. We're going to track down every lead possible and find something to connect them, beyond any reason of a doubt, to these robberies. Questions?" Abby looked at the men and women and most of them shook their head in the negative or answered 'no'.  "All right. Let's get to work." She and Heather exited the meeting room while the rest of the team began to discuss various bits of information.

\-----

                "So," Kelley began and sipped her lemonade. "I've been telling my friends about you."  
                Hope raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair. Around the, people went about their business while the two women sat on the patio under an umbrella. "Oh?" Hope asked. "All good I hope?"  
                Kelley smiled that infectious smile of hers and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the small table between them. She let out a non committal noise and bobbed her head side to side. Well if that wasn't a vague answer, Hope didn't know what was.  
                "Let me guess," Hope started and stirred her iced-tea with her straw. "They say... How incredibly lucky you are to have moved to Seattle less than a year ago and you've landed this awesome woman who does nothing but yell at people and puts them in varying degrees of pain?"  
                Kelley laughed. "No. They just..." She let out a sigh and looked out to the small park on the other side of the street. "They think it's a rebound. A rebound from what though? The robbery?" Kelley shrugged at her own question. "I feel estranged from them somehow. Ever since the robbery happened I feel like things have changed. Like I've drifted apart from them and I don't know... It feels like I'm leaving them behind," she finished quietly and planted her chin on her hand. She looked over to the park and her eyes dimmed a little.  
                Hope leaned forward, noticing the subtle shift of Kelley's mood. "What's wrong?"  
                Kelley looked to Hope for a moment then back to the park. She took a breath. "My brother died on a day like this."  
                Hope's eyebrows knitted in concern. "What? When?"  
                "When we were little. He died of Lymphoma." She got a faraway look in her eyes. "Now on really sunny days, I just think of people dying. Of him dying." She slowly nodded and seemed to come out of her semi-trance. She looked up to Hope. "That's wrong isn't it?"  
                "No," Hope started and reached forward to grasp Kelley's hand. She ran her thumb over the freckled knuckles. "I'm sure he'd be glad you're thinking of him. Plus... This is a good day. I'm having a good time with you, Kel."  
                Kelley's eyes lit up a little at her words and she smiled. "Good. I guess that means you'll miss me while I'm gone," She said and stood up, her hand squeezed Hope's before she gently pulled it away. She leaned over and gave Hope a small peck on the cheek and made her way inside the restaurant.  
                Hope leaned back in her chair and looked around at the city around her. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, letting the sun hit her face. A few seconds later, she felt the pressure of something at the base of her skull.  
                "Gimme your money," a low voice said from behind her. Hope froze. Her eyes snapped open and darted around her surroundings. Everyone else in the immediate vicinity was acting normal. Damn it.  
                A laugh sounded behind her and Carli clapped Hope on the shoulder before she dropped into Kelley's vacated seat. "What's goin' on?" Carli asked, glancing at the two drinks and two plates on the table. Hope's eyes wandered from the door of the restaurant to Carli.  
                "Not much. Just leaving actually," Hope replied and quickly stood up. She reached into her pocked to fish out a small wad of bills to throw on the table. "Let's go grab a drink or something," Hope offered. She bobbed her head in the opposite direction of the restaurant.  
                "Nah, I'm cool here. Who are you here with?" Carli asked.  
                "No one. It's hot out. You sure you don't want to go-" Hope began and was cut off when Kelley walked out of the building. Hope's mouth instantly lost all of its moisture and her heart began to beat rapidly. Shit.  
                Kelley approached the table with a smile and Carli turned her head to see what had caught Hope's attention. "Hi there," Kelley greeted with a big smile.  
                Carli jumped up from Kelley's seat. "Hi!" She greeted with far too much enthusiasm. "Carli."  
                "Carli? Nice to meet you. I'm Kelley."  
                "Kelley. Very nice to meet you. Here, sit down. Sorry I stole your seat. Didn't know Solo wasn't so... solo today." she glanced to Hope. Hope stared back at Carli.  
                She pulled up a chair to the table and gestured for Hope to sit as well. She tossed a big grin to the two of them. "Sorry to barge in," Carli began. "I saw the Wrangler around the corner. I figured you'd be around here somewhere."  
                Hope only nodded. Kelley looked between the two. Carli nudged Hope with an elbow. "How do you two know each other?" Kelley asked.  
                "Best friends since we were six," Carli easily answered. "More like sisters, really. It's weird though, she's never mentioned a word about you," she grinned and bobbed her head in Hope's direction. "The secrets, this one."  
                Kelley raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, weird." She looked to Hope and Hope kept her gaze on Carli.  
                "So what do you do for a living, Kelley?" Carli asked. Hope's jaw clenched and immediately almost dropped open. When Carli turned her head to Kelley, her neck tattoo was in full visibility thanks to the high bun that it was currently in. Hope swallowed hard. It would take a miracle for Kelley not to notice it.  
                "I'm a bank manager."  
                "Really? What bank?"  
                "I work over at Deutsche Bank."  
                "Deutsche..." Carli trailed off. "Wait isn't that the one that just-?"  
                "Yeah, we got robbed the other day."  
                "Sounds awful. Man. That's terrible." She shook her head a few times. "So. How'd you and Hope meet?"  
                "We met at a laundromat, actually." Kelley answered and brought her lemonade to her lips. She took a long pull of the drink and set it back on the table.  
                "Love among the bleach," Carli nodded. "Happens more often than you think." Hope by this time was dead-staring at Carli. Carli simply ignored it. "Don't believe a word she says, Kelley. You can't trust her."            
                Kelley put a hand to her chest. "You mean Hope's not an astronaut?"  
                Carli grinned. "Well, that part is true. We're both in the space program. Just don't get used to your life of leisure here with Hope." She tossed a thumb in Hope's direction and stage whispered to Kelley. "She's a real workaholic this one. Always takes her work home with her." At that, Carli's smiling eyes vanished and she fixed Hope with a plain stare. Hope stared back. After a short beat, Carli stood and turned to Hope. Hope quickly pulled Carli into a hug, clamping a hand over the back of Carli's exposed neck.  
                "Good to see you Car," Hope said with forced enthusiasm.  
                "You too, Solo," Carli said and slightly strained against Hope's grip. Hope turned Carli to face Kelley. "Very nice to meet you Kelley. Hopefully we'll see you again real soon."  
                Kelley waved and Carli proceeded down the block, not turning back. Hope watched her retreating back for a few moments before her attention refocused on Kelley. The freckled woman looked a little put out.  
                "So.. I guess you haven't been telling your friends about me."  
                Hope tried to force a smile. "No. Not that one anyway."

  
\-----

                Hope threw open the front door to Carli's place to find the other woman on her couch, watching Jeopardy.  
                "You got something to say?" Hope asked, hand on her hip, jaw set.  
                "I should be the one asking that question," Carli replied, eyes on the screen.  
                "You don't have anything to worry about," Hope growled out and crossed her arms. "It's all taken care of."  
                "Oh, so you're trying to get us jammed up?" Carli clicked off the TV and followed Hope into the small kitchen. They leaned against opposite counters, staring one another down.  
                "Yeah Car, I'm purposely trying to screw us all over."  
                "Seems like it Hope. Of all the people in the world, you decide to go after the one person who can ID us and get us all tossed into prison! Jesus!" She slammed a hand down on the counter. "Is this your idea of 'taking care of it'?" Carli asked.  
                Hope rolled her eyes. "Calm down. Don't you think we need to be smart right now?"  
                "Smart?" Carli repeated incredulously.  
                "Yeah. "  
                "So explain this to me. Is being smart our new plan? Does that involve sleeping with all of our witnesses? If so, I better tell the others. Luckily I won't because if I did, the girls would flip out and they need to be prepared for the next thing." She huffed.  
                Hope stood up straighter and looked Carli in the eye. "I told you, the next thing isn't ready yet."  
                "What do you mean it's not ready?" Carli asked.  
                "I mean one of the guys in the truck thinks he's GI Joe and wears Kevlar under his Kevlar!"  
                "Please. The damned truck is waist-high!"  
                "No. We'll find another truck. One with some sloppy teenager who would quicker piss himself than turn a gun on us."  
                "Listen," Carli started and moved to look out the kitchen window. "I know you're off being the happy little married couple to the star witness, but I waited nine years for this Hope. Nine years. I'm not waiting anymore. I want that money from that damned truck."  
                Hope sighed and shook her head. She looked down to her shoes and folded her arms. She bit her bottom lip for a moment then looked up at Carli.  
                "Fine. We'll do it on Friday. This is the last one. And if we get pinched, I just want you to remember who the hell wanted to do this job in the first place." Hope said through gritted teeth. She glared at Carli once more and slammed the front door behind her on the way out. 


	5. The Chase

                Three whistles blew and Kelley clapped and cheered with her friend Amanda as the two watched Amanda's niece parade around the pitch. Richland High School's girls soccer team had just clinched a playoff spot with their defeat over another local high school.   
                "They're having a small get together in the gym for the team. Are you up for that?" Amanda asked Kelley as the two gathered their things.  
                "Let's do it. Hopefully they have hot chocolate. I'm freezing," Kelley said and pulled her scarf even tighter around her neck. A cold front had swept in and she could use a little shelter indoors. The women, along with the team and other families and friends made their way inside to the school. Kelley glanced at trophy cases as she shuffled along the packed hallway to the gym.  
                Near the doors to the gym she paused. Inside the wooden case was a photo mounted on a plaque. In it, a girl was running with a soccer ball a few feet in front of her was clearly outpacing a blurred defender behind her. It was Hope. A much younger Hope, but still, the face was completely recognizable. Kelley read the inscription on the plaque that framed Hope's photo.   
  
                _Hope Solo - 109 Goals_

\-----  
                "I saw a photo of you today," Kelley started as she batted Hope's hand away from the pan of food she was stirring.  
                "What?" Hope's stomach clenched.  
                "My friend's niece had a soccer match over at Richland High. There was this plaque of you playing soccer."  
                "Oh that," Hope said and retreated to the other side of the kitchen and leaned against the fridge.   
                Kelley tapped the spoon a few times on the edge of the pan before setting it aside. She turned to  Hope. "What do you mean 'oh that'?"  
                Hope shrugged. "It was just a high school thing. Not really a big deal."  
                "Seems like a big deal to me if they still have it up after all this time. 109 is pretty impressive even for a high school kid." She covered the distance and rested her hands on Hope's hips. Hope covered Kelley's hands with her own and kept her gaze to the space between them. "Apparently you were kind of a big deal. Even made it to U-Dub on a scholarship?"  
                "What, did you Google me?" Hope asked with a forced grin.  
                Kelley chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to Hope's lips. "No. I guess the coach of Richland's team is still the same coach you had. He had a lot of good things to say about you."  
                "You asked Coach Vasquez about me?"  
                "I was curious."  
                "Why?"  
                "You don't really tell me things about your past. You were a huge soccer star. What happened?"  
                Hope shrugged. "I guess I wasn't good enough, y'know? Washington put me in as a keeper. They had enough forwards. Better forwards. They were set on keeping me in goal. I had a forward's mentality and it took a ton of getting used to. I did okay. Nothing spectacular. I got injured and messed up my shoulder. In the end, I didn't see eye to eye with my coach and teammates so I gave up soccer and moved on." She pursed her lips.   
                Kelley squeezed Hope's hands and leaned up and kissed Hope again for a long, lingering kiss. She pulled back and smiled up at Hope. "Well, I still think you're a keeper."  
                Hope laughed. "That might be one of the worst puns of all time."  
                Kelley grinned and made her way back to the stove. Hope followed her and wrapped her arms around Kelley from behind. She pressed a kiss to Kelley's neck. "But I like puns." She peppered a few more kisses to Kelley's exposed shoulder and up to her jaw-line.  
                "Keep doing that and dinner will be ruined," Kelley warned. She tilted her head anyway and allowed easier access for Hope. Hope uncurled one arm from around Kelley and turned the stove off.  
                "We'll clean it up later," Hope murmured and turned Kelley around in her arms. Kelley's hands instantly found their way up and around Hope's shoulders as the taller woman picked her up and carried Kelley to her bedroom.  
                  
                Hope woke up when she felt Kelley jerk against her side. Kelley's breath was coming and going in quick gasps. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Hope turned to face her and watched how the freckles on Kelley's bare back moved under the moonlight that filtered in through the blinds. "You okay?" she asked, voice gravelly with sleep.  
                "I'm fine," Kelley whispered and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."               
                Hope propped herself up on an elbow and let her free hand roam over Kelley's back. She could feel goose bumps. "C'mere."  
                Kelley let herself be pulled back onto the bed and she automatically tucked herself into Hope's side. Hope pulled the blankets up and over Kelley's small shoulders. "Want to talk about it?"Hope asked. She held Kelley around the shoulders with one arm and let the other rub soothing circles onto Kelley's back.  
                Kelley let out a breath and rested her hand on Hope's chest, relishing in the feel of the warm skin on skin contact. She trailed her thumb over Hope's collarbone. "It's nothing. It was just a replay really. I was walking barefoot on the rocks again. Until I hit the water. It was freezing. I got half a step into it's like everything was muted or just like a quiet buzz until I took the blindfold off. Then I heard the water splashing against the shore. A plane's engines were overhead and the sunlight was brighter than it ever had been before. Opening my eyes at that moment was ... I was just overwhelmed. I was happy. Terrified. Relieved." Kelley murmured. Another shiver racked her body.  
                Hope swallowed and pulled her closer. She pressed a kiss to the top of Kelley's head.  
                "Something weird happened in the dream this time though. I've had it before and it usually ends when the plane flies overhead. But this time I almost fell forward into the water. Except this time you were there. And you pulled me back against you. I felt safe in that dream for the first time ever. And that's what scared me awake," Kelley mumbled. "I'm scared that I already trust you this much and I feel like it's going to scare you away. You didn't ask to become part of this dramatic life I suddenly have. I don't want to trap you."  
                Hope tilted Kelley's jaw upward and looked into her worried eyes. "You didn't ask me to. But I'm here anyway. And I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." She kissed Kelley once more and let out a small smile. Kelley nodded back and let her head drop back to Hope's shoulder. Kelley's breath eventually evened out. Hope, however, remained wide awake. She stared at the ceiling. She always had a plan for almost any situation. Except this. How long could this possibly last?  
  
\-----  
                "You're late," Carli said as she opened her front door to Hope. Hope shrugged a shoulder and made her way inside the house. Carli glanced around the street before closing the door behind her and following Hope to the kitchen. Tobin and Alex were sitting at the table, latex gloves on and armed with bleach. The two were meticulously cleaning every inch of weapons and ammunition.  
                "We're almost done here. Go shower," Carli said as she pulled on a pair of gloves and began wiping down a magazine of bullets. Hope wordlessly walked down the hall and into the bathroom. She pulled out a small bag from her backpack and stripped off her clothes. She turned the shower on and stepped inside. With a small bristle brush, she began to scrub away at her body. The less DNA they left, the better.   
                Hope walked into the kitchen, dressed in a black jumpsuit like the other women. She adjusted her Kevlar vest. "Where's Pinoe?"  
                "She'll be here in a few. Went to the barbershop," Tobin answered as she loaded the last bullet into a magazine. Hope nodded and looked over their small cache of weapons. She pulled on gloves and began to pack the weapons into a nearby duffel bag.  
                Ten minutes later, the women were ready to go. Pinoe walked in the front door and pulled out a small Ziploc bag of cut up hair. "Got enough DNA here to cover our trail three times over."  
                "Good," Carli nodded and hefted a duffel bag onto her shoulder. Alex and Tobin grabbed two empty duffel bags while Hope stuffed one final bag with the masks they would use for this job. The women nodded at each other and headed out.

                Tobin stopped at a stop sign, fingers easily drumming on the steering wheel. Inside the min-van, Hope, Carli and Pinoe glanced around. The radio chatter of the police scanner filled the otherwise silent vehicle. Tobin accelerated and the crew slowly pulled up to the bank. Carli glanced to the left and right.  
                "Where's the truck?"  
                "Late I guess. Tobin, circle the block one more time," Hope said. Tobin nodded and drove down the block before beginning the circuit around the block once again.   
                There it was. Three minutes late, but there it was. The armored truck pulled up to the front of the bank. "Say your prayers," Tobin said. "Here we go."  
                The women in the car reached into a duffel bag and pulled out their masks. Each mask was identical. A rubber mask, made to look like a wrinkled old woman's face sewn into the black and white veil of a nun. The women then pulled out their assault rifles and clicked off their safeties.  
                Tobin closed the gap within seconds between the two vehicles and with practiced efficiency, Pinoe, Carli and Hope slid the doors open and piled out of the van. Hope went to the guard on the ground, who was still bent over and loading a bag of money onto a dolly. The guard looked up and was able to call out "Gun!" before Hope slammed the butt of her rifle against his head and knocked him out. She swept the immediate area around her, gun raised and sent people scurrying away from them and the truck.  
                Carli and Pinoe hopped into the back of the open truck and took out the second guard. They began filling duffel bags with money. Carli glanced at the driver of the truck behind the wheel. If he was smart, he'd stay in the cab of the truck as protocol dictated in the case of an event like this. She turned back to a shelf of money and continued to fill her bag with money.  
                Inside the van, Tobin kept a look out and had the volume of the police scanner cranked up. A distorted voice of a dispatch officer filled the interior. _"Any units in the area, there is a code 56 taking place in front of Opus Bank on 2nd Street and 106th avenue."  
                _ "They called it in, let's move!" Tobin hollered out the window. _"This is Unit 45, responding to code 56."  
                _ Carli glanced to the cab of the truck. The driver was gone and the door was left open. "Shit."  
                "Out of the truck, assholes. I got your friend!" The driver yelled and had Hope in front of him, with a gun raised to her head. It was the GI Joe Hope had talked about. Rapinoe and Carli immediately lifted their rifles and aimed at the guard.   
                "Calm down. Put your gun away or you're gonna get hurt," Hope said, turning slightly to the guard. He pressed the barrel right up to her temple.   
                "Put that damn gun down!" Carli yelled down to the guard.  
                "No way in he-" the guard began to yell and was cut off as Carli let a few bullet fly, knocking him to the ground. Hope ducked out of the way, her ear ringing.   
                "Jesus! Get in the car now, go!" Hope hollered at Rapinoe and the two hurried to the van. Carli jumped down from the truck and glared down at the fallen guard.  
                "Should've listened to me!"  
                "Let's go!" Hope yelled and Carli grabbed the last duffel bag of money and jumped into the van.   
"Damn it, Carli, I told you about that guy! You couldn't have just waited for something else!"  
                "You're welcome for saving your ass, Solo." Carli snapped right back.  
                Megan turned around. "Chill out guys! We got the money and there's no cops yet."  
                Tobin turned the corner and right at the end of the block was a cop car driving toward them.  
                "Keep it slow, Tobin. Maybe we can slip by them."  
                Tobin nodded and eased off the gas just enough. She slowed to the stop sign and flipped on a her turn signal. Immediately, the cop cars lights lit up and the car slammed on its gas.  
                "Screw it. Hit it, Tobin. Let's go!" Carli yelled and Tobin whipped the van around the corner.   
                _"Suspects are in a dark blue minivan and heading north on 106 avenue,"_ A police officer's voice filled the car and Tobin slammed on the brakes, whipping the van down an alley. The van roared down the narrow alley and popped through crossing traffic at the first opening to a main street. She turned the wheel and the van came face to face with a cop car.  
                "Driver!" An officer yelled through the cop car's speaker. "Turn off your engine! Get out of the vehicle, _now!"  
                _ "Not today," Megan said leaned out the passenger window and fired a few shots to the windshield of the unit.  
                "Go for the engine blocks," Hope directed as she smashed out the back window of the van and let off a few rounds. Tobin hit the gas and maneuvered the van around the car and continued on down the block. Two more patrol units joined in on chase. Tobin used the best of her evasive maneuvers but the police were always on their tail. One unit pulled up to the side of them and Carli let a few rounds go, blowing out its tires.   
                "Get to the switch!" Hope called out and braced herself as the van whipped around yet another corner. Tobin sped up just as another cop car gained on them. They were almost there. Finally, tires squealing as she pulled the emergency brake, they came to a small alley and slammed on the brakes, almost colliding with an old Jeep Cherokee. Two cop cars pulled up behind them.   
                "Let's go, let's go!" Carli called out. Hope and Megan jumped out and laid down cover fire while Tobin, armed with two duffel bags of money scrambled to the Jeep. Alex jumped out of the driver's seat and popped the back hatch open for her. Meanwhile, Carli pulled out two gas cans from the back of the van and emptied them out all over the interior of the van.   
                "In the Jeep, now!" Hope called to Megan. Megan nodded and let another burst of bullets fly toward the cops who were taking refuge behind their cars. Hope glanced to Carli and saw her pull out a lighter. Hope ran to the passenger seat of the Jeep and climbed in. Carli tossed the lit Zippo into the van and was the last one into the Jeep.   
                Within seconds, the van exploded in a ball of fire. Tobin hit the gas and proceeded north. The fiery van would keep the cops back for only so long.  
                _"Suspects headed north. Block all travel across Evergreen Bridge,"_ a voice commanded over the police scanner.  
                "All right Tobs, let's get across that bridge then we're good." Hope said in a calm voice. Tobin nodded and flew through traffic. She zipped the car around trucks and other cars. This part was easy for her. While the rest of the cars on the road were barely pushing 45, she had the Jeep flying at 80 miles per hour.  
                The bridge was in site within seconds.   
                " _This is unit 516. Approaching Evergreen bridge on the east entrance in approximately two minutes"_   
                "Perfect. Keep goin' Tobs."  
                Tobin nodded and pulled into a lane meant only for vehicles with toll road passes. She sped by them all and quickly maneuvered past the bridge traffic. Within a minute they were across the bridge and there were zero signs of police.  
                "Nice, Tobs." Alex said and clapped Tobin on the back from her spot in the middle of the back seat. Tobin slowed down and drove the car at a much less noticeable pace a few blocks away. She turned a corner and drove halfway up the block. She eased the Jeep to an empty parking spot on the street and the crew pilled out of the car.  
                And froze.  
                There, across the street sat a cop in his cruiser. On the other side of him was a street construction crew at work. He stared at the armed, masked robbers. They stared back, guns and duffel bags in hand. Hope took a deep breath. The middle-aged officer locked eyes with her.  
                And turned his head the other way.  
                Hope and the others quickly transferred their bags to another car parked one spot away and climbed in. Megan pulled out her Ziploc bag of hair clippings and dumped it all over the interior of the Jeep. "All the DNA of downtown Seattle," she chuckled. She was the last one in the vehicle and the blue Subaru pulled away from the curb within seconds.

\-----

                A fist slammed down on the hood of the burnt mini -van. "Damn it. How the hell did they get away this time?" Abby asked. "Any prints?"  
                "The inside of the van is burnt to a crisp," a tech answered.  
                "Find something that looks like something that could be a print. We don't have enough for a conviction? Fine. But I need to get them in a room. Right now they're burning the money bands in some bullshit safe house. All of their alibis are paid for a week in advance. We're not going to pull any DNA off of this, or of the switch car we found over on the other side of the bridge. And that, as they say," Abby slammed her fist on the side of the van, causing a few ashes to scatter into the wind, "is that."  
                She turned to Heather. "This is the Not Fucking Around Crew. We need to find something that links us to one of these assholes. I want to start shaking their tree. Because I'm not fucking around anymore, either."


	6. Threats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm coming out of hibernation.

                The drive to Washington Corrections Center for Women was an hour long trip. It gave Hope the chance to mentally ready herself for a visit.  She had the radio on low mostly for background noise to her thoughts. She glanced at the stereo. It was just past ten in the morning. Visiting hours wouldn't begin for another half hour. She had visited plenty of times in the past years and knew the drill. Conservative clothing. Subject to search. No bringing anything with you. Short visit. It was routine by now.  
                Hope pulled into the visitor's parking lot and took the last sip of her tepid coffee and climbed out of the Wrangler. She headed inside and began the process to visit with Maggie. Forty-five minutes later, she was given directions to follow a guard who would escort her to a visiting room. She gave a small smile to a young girl who was seven, maybe eight years old. The small girl was slumped on the floor looking bored while two women each spoke in Spanish over the phone to the inmate on the other side. The small girl smiled back up at Hope and immediately looked down at the ground again.  
                A door behind the inmate opened and Hope's gaze fell to that of her mother walking in through the door with a guard behind her. The two made their way to a specific booth at the end of the hallway. Hope followed them and sat on the chair while the guard gave Maggie a warning of a ten minute visit before walking away.  
                Mother and daughter picked up the phone and gave a small smile to each other.  
                "Morning, Hope."  
                "Morning, Ma."  
                The two stared at each other for a few seconds, blue eyes reflecting blue. "How's it going?" Hope asked.  
                "Oh you know. Same ol', same ol'," Maggie waved a hand in the air. "You?"  
                "I'm fine. Nothing new," Hope replied and wondered if they'd ever have a different opening to their conversations. Maggie even dismissively waved her hand the same time, every visit. Left, swoop to the right, drop to the left and plop on the table.  
                "You seem a little tense," Maggie started as she eyed Hope's posture. Mother's intuition came late it seemed and Hope had to deal with it over a phone and through a glass. It left them with awkward silences and nothing to talk about.  
                "Yeah. Maybe. I'm thinking about uh, taking a vacation. From work."  
                Maggie tilted her head in the slightest. "You taking some heat?"  
                Hope shrugged and made a non-committal noise. "Well... I'm making a change."  
                Maggie smirked. "Don't tell me that. You either do or you don't have heat." She let it linger in the air. When Hope didn't elaborate she spoke again. "I heard a bread truck got dropped."  
                Hope looked down to the table. "Really? I hadn't heard." She wasn't going to discuss this with her mother, especially in a correctional facility of all places.  
                "Yeah, okay," Maggie replied.  
                A guard walked by and issued a five minute warning.  
                "Let me ask you something," Hope started and brought her gaze up to her mom's. "In case I don't see you again. How come we-" Hope began and licked her lips. Her mouth had gone dry. "Why didn't we ever look for him?"  
                "Him?," Maggie asked, genuinely confused. "Him who?"  
                Hope scoffed. "For my father." Maggie groaned. "You never called anyone. You never tried to find him."  
                "When your father left, you cried so hard you were throwing up. So I told you to look around to find him. It gave you something to do. Jesus, Hope. I didn't think you'd carry around like some... disease!" Hope dropped her sight to focus on a small speck on the glass between them.  
                "What, you want to think your father was some... Dad of the year? Go ahead. But when you walk around the neighborhood, what do you see? All these guys, thinking they're God's gift to these, twenty-two year olds and getting them pregnant. Do they all end up as one big happy family? No. The guys leave the girls, only to go knock up some other young, dumb girl. Someone always gives up.  We don't have ideal families. There are no happy endings. You father was no different from any other guy on the block and that's the hard truth."  
                Hope looked up once more into her mother's eyes. She was taken aback with how bitter her mother still was over this. Hope pursed her lips as Maggie continued on. "I've made my peace with it. Make yours. I didn't go looking for your father because there was nothing to find."  
                The two women stared at each other. Maggie sighed. "Listen. I have to die two more times while I'm in this place before I get out. I'll see you again. This side or the other." She stood up and hung the phone up into its cradle. Hope didn't move an inch. The phone was still pressed to her ear and Maggie walked back the way she had come. Hope let out a breath and slowly hung up her phone.

                Once she was back in her car, Hope checked her cell phone. A single text message popped up.  
                _They got Carli and Pinoe. Expect visitors soon.  
_                 She tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. Hope sighed. It was only a matter of time. She started the engine and took her time getting to her house.

                Once she arrived, a squad car pulled up seconds later and within two minutes, she was cuffed and in the backseat of a cruiser and on her way downtown. At the station, she was processed with photographs, fingerprints and was eventually put into an interrogation room. She had yet to say a word to the police. She knew Carli, Alex, Tobin and Pinoe would keep their mouths shut too. This had always been discussed should the women get pulled in for questioning. Clam up. The police wouldn't have a shred of evidence and they'd be home in time for dinner.  
                A door opened and a woman in a suit walked in with a folder. She tossed it onto the table in front of Hope and nodded. "Inspector Wambach. Nice to finally meet you, Ms. Solo."  
                Hope merely glanced from the folder to the Inspector, an air of boredom crossed her features.  
                "We lifted a print off the burnt van. That's why you and your pals are here now," Abby continued. She sat at the table across from Hope and the two women stared at each other for a moment. "You girls, sorry, women. You women didn't just knock over some convenience store for the cash register. No, you dummies hit an armored truck with a few hundred thousand dollars in it. With assault rifles, no less. You tore through the streets, disrupting the pubic, putting pedestrians into harm's way. Very gutsy. Very stupid. To top it off. You shot a guard!" Abby chuckled.  
                "Now somehow, this dumb guard has miraculously clung to life and although he's still in ICU - and I never say this - I kind of wish he'd give up his fight. That way, I can string you up on federal charges. Then we could end this story with a bag on your head with a paralyzing agent is running through your veins." Hope merely raised an eyebrow.  
                Abby leaned forward. "This isn't some hopscotch, cat and mouse game. But I do want to say this so we’re both very, very clear: because sometimes, in these circumstances, various parties bandy about the possibility of sentence reduction in exchange for cooperation, testimony or otherwise assisting the prosecution. Not this time. You’re here today so I could tell you personally that you’re going to die in federal prison. And so are all your friends. No deal. No compromise. So when you start trying to stab each other in the back - and you will - but in the end you will cry and beg - you always do - and when that day comes... I just want you to know, it's gonna be me who tells you to go fuck yourself."  
                Hope lets out a small smirk. "How did those photos of me and my friends turn out? Next time you want pictures, give me a call. It'll be much better than a barbecue. Although Megan does grill a killer steak.  Maybe we can do a photo shoot. Sell it to your department buddies as a calendar. Topless too, if your boss will allow it. I just want you to know that everyone who has any semblance of a brain knows what your cute little false-business surveillance vans look like. Dark tinted windows. Parked across the street from what you're trying to snap photos of. Sits there for hours. I mean, since when does a local courier sit in a residential neighborhood for hours on end?"  
                Abby glared at Hope. Hope leaned back in her chair and uncrossed her legs. "If you're going to try and be slick, be slicker than a five year old. This chair is pretty uncomfortable. Can I go now?"  
                Abby stood up and crossed her arms. Hope took it as a yes and smiled as she reached for the doorknob. As an afterthought, she glanced back to Abby. "Oh, and good luck with that print, Inspector."

\------

                Abby walked back to her desk and fell into her chair. She looked over the pegboard once more, hoping for a clue of any sort to pop out at her. She was back to square one. Her eyes fell onto photos of the recent victims of the Seattle heists. A photo of Kelley O'Hara caught her attention. Start at square one. Talk to the witnesses again. She reached for her desk phone and dialed the bank.  
                "Yes, can I speak with Kelley O'Hara please? She's the manager." A voice on the other line made Abby frown. "Since when?" She hung up and looked to Heather. "O'Hara quit her job at the bank. We need a warrant for her."  
                "A warrant? For what?"  
                "Everything. Phone. E-mail. Skype. I want it all," Abby answered and slapped her hand on the desk. Heather's eyebrows knitted together.  
                "I don't know how we're going to get a judge to grant us one without any justifiable reasoning."  
                "We need it HAO. O'Hara quitting her job just after it gets robbed? That's justifiable in and of itself. She could be part of this crew.  Get me that warrant."

\------

                "Why didn't you tell me you quit your job at the bank?" Hope asked as she leaned against the wall in Kelley's bedroom. She tossed a small velvet box from one hand to another, not even realizing she had pulled it out of her coat.  
                "I don't know," Kelley said and grinned. She packed a few shirts into a large cardboard box on her bed. "Why don't you tell me what's in the box?"  
                Hope stopped tossing it. "This?"  
                "Mm-hmm."  
                "It's uh... Nothing. Has anyone called you from work? What'd they say?"  
                "Mmmmmm nope. No one's called me about quitting."  
                "Nope? Huh. Well. What're you going to do now?" Hope asked and glanced out the window.  
                Kelley closed the lid of the box and sat next to it on the bed. "I don't know. Maybe teach. Volunteer full-time. I have some money saved up so I don't need to figure it out right now."  
                Hope moved to the bed and pulled the box off and set it onto the ground. "What if I told you I was going to quit my job too?"  
                "That'd be nice to have some company. We can be bums together," Kelley replied with a smile. It seemed forced. She seemed distracted almost. Hope tilted her head.  
                "What's wrong?"  
                "Nothing, it's just... I saw this article in the Times the other day. I never have time to read the paper anymore and so it just piles up. I was recycling it the other day and I saw this face in it I recognized but I wasn’t sure from where and then I realized where that face was from. Remember how I told you a few weeks back that those guys with tattoos kind of... ruined my day?"  
                "The guys who were throwing bottles at you?" She knew where this was going.  
                "Yeah. It was an article about how he had been beat up pretty badly. Him and some other guy that was in the apartment with him." Kelley held Hope's look. Did Kelley know something or could it be Hope's imagination making her paranoid?  
                "Did they say who beat these guys up?"  
                "No. The Police said they he was too terrified of them - local gangsters apparently."  
                "Well, they had it coming. I can't say I'm not happy it happened," Hope reasoned.  
                "Maybe they had it coming to them. I don't know... Just like I still don't know what's in the box." Kelley added and gestured to the black box in Hope's hand.  
                Hope smiled and handed it over. "It's nothing special. It's just a necklace. That's all," she muttered. Kelley opened it and her eyes widened at the size of the tear drop diamond on its white gold chain.  
                "Why don't we go away together? Take a trip somewhere for a while?" Hope asked.  
                Kelley's eyes were still on the necklace. She took a deep breath. "What?" Hope asked "Is it okay? I didn't know what to get. The lady at the store said it would be good and I don't know. If you don't like it I can take it back. Get you something better. Nicer?" Hope's word fumbled and she was clearly thrown off by Kelley's quiet reaction to the gift.  
                Kelley lifted her eyes to meet Hope's. "It's beautiful. But... I mean. You didn't have to sell your car for this did you?"  
                Hope visibly relaxed and smiled. "Nah. I found someone to take over the payments for it." Kelley chuckled and leaned over and placed a kiss on Hope's mouth. "You know," Hope began and took Kelley's hand. "People get up every day and they always say they're going to do something to change their lives but they never do. I'm going to change mine. Why don't you do it with me?"  
                Kelley leaned back and raised an eyebrow. "Okay."  
                "Okay?"  
                "Yeah," Kelley nodded and squeezed Hope's hand. "Where will we go?"  
                "I don't know. Anywhere. Wherever you want," Hope answered. She took a steadying breath and Kelley tweaked her head at an angle to try and catch Hope's gaze. "Um. There's some things you don't know about me, Kell."  
                "What do you mean?"  
                "I... I've done things. When I was younger. Got in trouble with the police. Things I'm not proud of. So... I don't want you saying you'd go with me out of some sort of obligation. Misguided sympathy."  
                Kelley searched Hope's eyes. "I know who you are."  
                "You do?"  
                "Yeah. I do," Kelley nodded and brought her hand up to cup Hope's cheek, "I do."  
                "...Does that mean you want to go with me?"  
                Kelley let out a soft smile. "Absolutely. Let's start now."  
  
\------

                The next morning, Abby walked to her desk and was greeted by Heather. "Got an interesting recording from O'Hara's cell phone from last night. See if you recognize the voice."  
                Abby leaned in to the computer and Heather hit the play button.  
  
                _Hey, where have you been? I tried to reach you all day._  
 _Sorry. I uh, I got held up at work. Can I come over tonight and see you?_  
 _Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?_  
 _Yeah, I just want to see you. I'll be there in fifteen. Will you come to the backdoor and let me in?_  
               

                Heather hit the stop button and looked up to Abby. "This is perfect. Nice work, HAO." Abby clapped her on the shoulder and gathered her things. It was time to pay Kelley O'Hara a visit.

  
\------  
                "I didn't realize you left your job at the bank," Abby said after Kelley let her into the apartment.  
                Kelley led the way into the living room. "Yeah. Last week. I'm sorry. Was I supposed to notify someone?"  
                Abby smiled and shook her head. Her gaze fell to an open jewelry box on the table. "Fancy."  
                Kelley nodded and smiled. "Yeah. It was a gift."  
                Abby looked to the shorter woman and clamped the lid closed. She set it down on the table and walked over to Kelley. "We have our suspects," Abby began and tapped the folder in her other hand against the table top. "I came by to share this with you. She opened it up and spread out the photos one by one. "Alexandra Morgan, Tobin Heath, Megan Rapinoe - this one has a twin sister. Thankfully we can tell them apart. Carli Lloyd. They're part of a crew we tied in to the bank job. Your former bank, that is. As well as two other bank jobs and four armored car robberies. The mastermind behind it all is uh, is an interesting person." Abby moved the photo out of the way. The last color photo was of Hope's mug shot from her most recent trip to the police station.  
                "Look familiar?" Abby asked. Kelley's eyes stayed locked on the photo. Her face betrayed no emotion. "You opened the safe for Solo. You were left unharmed by her. And now you two are carrying on a relationship about which you lied to me. I was wrong before. When we initially questioned you. You are going to need a lawyer after all."


	7. The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters within 24 hours? This is a record for me.

Hope pulled into a parking spot and shut the engine off. She scanned the area until her eyes fell upon a lone figure on a park bench near a small pond. She climbed out of her car and walked over until she reached Carli's side.  
                "Something wrong with meeting at your place?" Hope asked as she watched Carli tear up small pieces of bread and toss them to the small group of ducks. Carli exhaled and dusted her hands off.  She looked to Hope.  
                "The Coach. He came through."  
                "What?" Hope asked and raised her eyebrows. Carli merely stared at her until it sunk in.  
                Hope dug her hands into her coat pocket and scoffed. "Jesus, Carli. Are you kidding me?" Hope shook her head. "Are you kidding me?"  
                Carli shrugged and stood up from the bench to move in front of Hope. "It's large, Hope. Huge."  
                Hope paced back and forth for a few paces. "You know we're smoked, right? Pick someone else up for this job. I'm not doing it. Hell, do it with the others, for all I care."  
                Carli crossed her arms.  
                Hope stared at her and tapped her own temple. "Or be smart and boot it."  
                Carli raised an eyebrow. "You're not doing this?"  
                "No."  
                "Why not?"  
                Hope took a step closer to Carli, "Because we have a ton of heat on us for one thing."  
                "This is huge, Hope. We need you for this. The MLS Cup is coming up and I don't have time to find someone else. I don't want to find someone else for this."  
                "I'm done, Carli. No more."  
                "What does that mean, you're _done_?"  
                Hope tilted her head. "What do you think it means? It means I'm done. I'm not pulling anymore jobs. I'm finished. You would be too if you were smart. We have more than enough money and we don't need this job. Especially when the Coach is going to take more than his fair share. Let me put it to you this way. I'm putting this whole fucking town in my rearview mirror, all right?"  
                Carli forced a chuckle. "You can't just walk away from this. You know that right? There's people here you can't walk away from."  
                Hope pulled her hands out of her pockets and held them out. "Who? Who is so damn important that I have to stay here for?"  
                Carli glared. "You have friends here. We're your family. You know Alex and Tobin are just a couple of kids."  
                "They're in their twenties, Carli. Much older, much smarter and more capable than you or I were at their age. They're not babies. They're adults. They'll be fine. And don't try that spiel with Pinoe either. She can do what she wants. You all can. Especially you."  
                Carli took a few steps away and whirled back around. "You know what your problem is, Hope? You think you're better than everyone here."  
                Hope nodded, "Yeah, Carli. That's it. I'm so much better than anyone in this town. You're exactly right."  
                "Who do you think you are, Hope? You grew up right here with the same rules as everyone else. You have a job to do."  
                "Are you kidding me? You're going to tell me what I can and cannot do?" Hope asked incredulously. "All right, here's a little cheat sheet for you. This isn't some stupid little story about how a few women survive together, a bunch of orphans playing house! This is real life. All right? You got it? Get that through your head. I'm tired of your bullshit. If you want to see me again, come visit me in Colorado."  
                Carli pursed her lips and shook with rage. She balled her fist and took a swing at Hope. Hope leaned back enough to deflect most of the blow. She shoved Carli away but Carli kept coming at her. The two grappled with each other and fell to the ground. Carli landed another punch and Hope flipped them over and managed to pin Carli down.  
                The women panted and glared at each other until Hope scoffed and stood up. She rubbed her stinging shoulder. Carli sat up and looked to Hope. The two eventually crawled onto the park bench. Hope brushed the grass and dirt from her coat and jeans.  
                "The cops had me right here," Carli said, her  breathing slowly returning back to normal. "I shot that Kershing kid right here. There was word that Kershing and one of his crew was going to come over here and shoot you. I guess you pissed them off or something."  
                "I didn't ask you to do that, Carli," Hope said and kept her gaze over the pond.  
                "Of course you didn't. And you didn't have to, Hope. But I came over here. And I put him in the ground. I did nine years for it. Now, you don't have to thank me, but you're not walking away from me or this job.  
                Hope turned to Carli. "I'm grateful for everything you've done for me, Car. Your family took me in when my mom went to prison. You're like a sister to me, you know that right?" She didn't wait for Carli to respond. "But I'm leaving. If you're going to shoot me, you're going to have to shoot me in the back." Hope stood up from the bench and walked away. Carli glared ahead and let out a deep breath.  
                 
                Hope climbed back into her car and glanced in the mirror. There was a small cut on her lip but otherwise, she was fine. She looked over to Carli who had yet to move from the park bench. With a sigh, Hope started up the Jeep and pulled out of the parking lot.  
  
                The bell above the door rang and Hope stepped into the shop. Benny, as usual glared at Hope the second she walked in. She held up a hand to him. "Don't get up."  
                Tom sat at the front desk with a newspaper turned to the sports section. Tom glanced up to Hope and raised an eyebrow. "Listen," Hope started. "I wanted to stop by and tell you myself that whatever this thing is that you got going on with Carli - I want no part of it. The girls can handle it without me."  
                Tom shook his head and laid the newspaper down. He made a note in a ledger before looking up at Hope. "I wouldn't hire them without you. And I wouldn't hire you without them," he smiled. His mustache turned up at the edges of his mouth. "You're a unit. A perfect unit."  
                "With all due respect, Coach. I didn't come here for a debate. So uh, work it out however you can. I'm not doing it." Hope reached into her coat pocket and Benney immediately reached for the shotgun under the counter.  
                Hope rolled her eyes at him. "Calm down. It's just a gift." She pulled out a brown paper bag. It was folded over itself a few times and was in a thick, rectangle shape. "That's 20k. You can find someone else," She explained and tossed the wrapped money on the counter.  
                Tom pushed the money back to Hope. "Not gonna cut it, girl." At Hope's raised eyebrows, Tom continued. "You want me to put your gal in charge of this? She's got a temper, that one. You're gonna do what I ask."  
                Hope shook her head. "Let me ask you something, Sermanni. Who the fuck do you think you are? You think you're the only one with guns in Seattle? You guys run numbers and pump dope. You're an old guy whose glory days are way behind him. I'm not working for you. Got it?" She glanced to Benny then brought her attention back to Tom. "You got a problem with that, I live at 28th and Yesler. Come find me."  
                "You're going to work for me, or I'm going to break you like I broke your mother."  
                Hope stiffened. "Don't talk about my mother."  
                "Your mother worked for me for years, girl. _Years_. When she wanted to break away from me and do her own thing, I had to put her in her place. You ever watch the races? It's like breaking and training a filly into a championship mare. When your mother said no to me I trained her straight away - strung your father out on dope. Took what she loved. But your father saw it clearer than she did. Doped up and hung himself up with a wire down on Pike Street."

                Hope kept her face stoic and let Tom continue on. Clearly the man was on a roll, and had perhaps even practiced this speech for just such an occasion. "All them fliers you passed out when you were little - looking for your father. She never had the heart to tell her daughter she was looking for a suicide doper, who wasn’t never coming home. If there's a heaven, girl. Your daddy ain't in it. Ask her next time you’re up there, if she wishes she made the smart play now.  
                I do what I have to do. I hear you got a nice, sweet, new girlfriend. Bank teller. Lives over on the corner of Boylston and Olive. I don’t want to have to send her funeral arrangement to your house, girl. But I will if I have to." Tom smiled again. "Since I know where to find you."  
                Hope pursed her lips and turned on her heel. She stormed out of the shop and had one destination in mind. She had to get to Kelley.  
                               

\-----

                Hope pulled up to the curb fifteen minutes later and threw the gear shift in park. She clambered out of the Jeep and hurried down the block to Kelley's building. As luck would have it, a delivery driver was leaving the building. She snagged the door by the handle just before it clicked shut and she hurried to the stairs and took them two at a time to Kelley's third floor apartment. She burst through the door into the quiet hallway and walked to Kelley's door. She knocked on it and waited for a moment. No sound came from inside. She tried the handle. Locked.  
                Hope reached a hand up to the molding above the door and felt around for the spare key Kelley had once shown her.  
                _"Need me to get you a ladder?" Hope had asked._  
                Kelley turned around and glared at Hope, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Well if you hadn't distracted me when we were leaving, I wouldn't have left my keys inside my apartment."  
                "I distracted you?" Hope asked and stepped closer to Kelley who was still reaching up toward the molding of the doorway. She wrapped her arms around Kelley's middle and pulled the shorter woman to her chest. She peppered Kelley's neck with soft kisses and Kelley's arm fell and cupped the back of Hope's neck.  
                Kelley let out a sigh and turned around in Hope's arms. "Yes. You did. And it's not going to work this time. You still owe me a home-cooked meal."  
                Hope sighed and reached up. She snagged the key from its hiding spot and let Kelley open the door. "I'm telling you. I'm the worst cook of all time. I hope you have some take-out menus for back up." She unlocked the door and placed the key back onto the doorjamb and checked to make sure it was out of plain sight.  
  
                Hope's fingers felt the cool metal of the key and she pulled it down and forced it into the lock and threw the door open.  
                "Kelley?" Hope called out and reached into the back of her jeans for her pistol. She brought it out and kept it low in her right hand. "Kelley, are you home?" Hope looked to her left and right. She moved quickly and quietly through the home moving from living room, to kitchen, to the office and finally to Kelley's bedroom. Her heavy breathing was the only sound in the room. Her eyes caught the mostly closed door of the master bathroom.  
                Hope took slow cautious steps to the door and nudged it open. Kelley sat huddled on the tile next to her tub. Her face was wet with tears and her knees were drawn up to her chest. Hope stashed the gun into the back of her jeans and cautiously approached Kelley.  
                "Kell-" Hope started and was cut off when Kelley held a hand up.  
                "Get out." Kelley demanded, her voice shaking with tears. She had her phone in one hand and was visibily shaking.  
                "Are you okay?"  
                Kelley shook her head in the negative. "Get out, Hope. I have this on 9-1-1," Kelley said as tears slipped down her face.  
                Hope took a step forward and crouched down. "Kelley. You have to let me explain this. Give me a chance, please." Hope's heart pounded in her ears. This couldn't be happening.  
                "You had your chance," Kelley replied.  
                "Who talked to you?" Hope asked.  
                "Who? The cops, Hope." Hope's stomach dropped and she dropped from a crouch to her knees. She reached a hand out to Kelley. "You have to listen to me. Let me explain. There's a lot going on here, Kel."  
                Kelley surged up onto her feet and she pushed Hope backward. Hope's back connected with the doorjam and she winced. Kelley looked down at her. "Go to hell!"  
                Hope climbed up to her feet and Kelley was coming at her again. She threw a fist and Hope made no move to counter. She instead stepped into it and let Kelley's small fist connect with her collar. Kelley went to land another throw and Hope wrapped her up. Kelley immediately pushed away.  
                "Don't touch me!"  
                "Listen to me. The- the robbery, whatever, that's true, okay? But I'm the same person you knew."  
                "Everything you told me was a lie. You hurt people."  
                "I don't want to hurt anybody."  
                "You're a criminal, Hope!" Kelley pushed Hope backwards again when Hope got too close. "You tried to manipulate me and make me feel sorry for you-"  
                " _Sorry_ for me?"  
                "You want to know why people think you're trash, Hope? Because you are."  
                Hope swallowed. "Kelley."  
                Kelley angrily rubbed at the tears on her face. "Why did you do this to me?"  
                "Kel, I was going to tell you. That night. I wanted to tell you that night."  
                "The night you fucked me?" Kelley scoffed and ran a hand through her hair. She looked to the ground then glared back up at hope. "Is that your thing? It's not enough to terrorize someone, so you have to fuck them too?"  
                "Kelley, calm down."  
                "Never, never let me see you again."  
                "Kelley, please. I just-"  
                "Get out." Kelley seethed. When Hope didn't move Kelley held her finger above the call button. "Get out!"  
                Hope held her hands up and slowly backed out of the bathroom. Kelley slammed the door and Hope heard the muffled sobs behind it. Everything in her told her to go back in there and make Kelley listen. The only thing that held her back was that one phone call Kelley would make without any hesitation. Hope cupped her head in her hands then threw her hands down to her side in anger. She fucked up and lost the one person she cared most for.

\------  
  
                The following day, Hope made it a point to walk by Kelley's place. There, on the stoop was a flower arrangement. A funeral wreath. Hope's blood boiled. She jogged across the street and ripped it off the stairs. She tore it apart and threw it into the street and looked around.  
                Half a block down, Benny slowly climbed into his car and kept eye contact with Hope. He nodded at her and started the engine. Hope glared at him with balled fists and watched him drive away.

                Hope threw open the front door of the shop later that night as Tom was pulling on his coat to leave.  
                "All right," Hope breathed out. "I'm in. But if anything happens to her, by the two of you or anyone else or if I get worried something might happen to her I’m gonna come back here and kill both of you in your own shop."  
                Tom pulled on his cap and smirked.

\------

                Hope sat in the small backroom of Sermanni's shop next to Carli, Pinoe, Alex and Tobin. Tom shuffled back and forth in front of the crew.  
                "Now, there’s a fella, on the inside. He likes to play the ponies from time to time. He's got a gambling sickness. Can’t pick a fuckin’ horse to save his life. Now he's got a red figure with me. I got this:" He held up a manila envelope. "Security chart, Good for one day. Diagrams when the cash gets brought out from the safe, packed, then held for ten minutes by security before the truck gets there. That’s when you hit it. For those that were good in school: hundred ten thousand beers at seven bucks a pop. Sixty thousand dogs at five a shot. Forty thousand sausage, plus merchandise, plus restaurants, bars  and other concessions for a sold out Cup game? Two point nine million dollars. Taking down the Cathedral of Seattle sports? Priceless."

\-----

                Kelley kneeled in the dirt and pulled at some weeds. The wind kicked her hair around and she tossed the hand shovel to the dirt and slipped her gloves off. She pulled her hair back into a bun and pulled her gloves back on.  
                "Kelley." She froze.  
                "Kelley, I just want to talk to you for two minutes. Please." Kelley grabbed her shovel and threw it into her gardening basket and stood up. She kept her eyes on the ground in front of her and moved to the small path Hope stood on.  
                "Kelley. I would never hurt you."  
                "I don't know what you would-" Hope tried to put a hand on her arm to stop Kelley from walking away and Kelley immediately shrugged it off. "Don't touch me."  
                "All right. I'm sorry." Hope took a step back and shoved her hands in her coat pockets."Just... Listen to me for a second. Please? You know who I am. You always have."  
                Kelley tore off her gloves and threw them in her basket. "If I knew who you were I would have called the police as soon as I saw you in the laundromat."  
                Hope tilted her head down to catch Kelley's gaze. "Think about it, Kelley. If there was no robbery. We would be the same people. I'll never lie to you again. Ever."  
                "Really?" Kelley deadpanned.  
                "Yes. I promise you. Ask me anything you want."  
                "I don't think I can believe you. How could I?"  
                "Because you'll hate the answers," Hope replied and licked her lips. "Ask me."  
                Kelley looked over the garden and blew her breath out and brought it back to Hope's blue eyes. "You knew I was one of the managers of the bank, right?"  
                "Yes."  
                "Were you following me the day in the laundromat?"  
                "Yes."  
                "How many banks have you robbed?"  
                Hope pursed her lips and exhaled a moment later. "Four banks. Six trucks."  
                "Have you ever killed anyone?"  
                "No."  
                "Was it you who went after the guys that threw bottles at me?"  
                "Yes. Me and Carli."  
                "You have to go away, Hope," Kelley almost whispered. "I can't trust you."  
                "If you want me to go away, then call the police. Tell them we're robbing CenturyLink Field the morning after the MLS Cup."  
                "What?" Kelley looked confused.  
                "I told you I'm not lying to you anymore. I'm doing this one last job and we're robbing the cash room of the stadium."  
                Hope took a deep breath. "Either I'll end up in prison where my mom is or I'll end up with you far away from here. I told you I wanted to change my life, Kelley. I still want it to be with you." Kelley's eyes dampened and she took a shuddering breath.  
                "Kelley. I promise I'll never hurt you, I'll never leave you and I will never ever lie to you again. If I lose you, I will regret that for the rest of my life. Just, wait for me. Please." Hope sighed and reached towards Kelley's empty hand and stopped herself midway. She dropped it back to her side and studied Kelley's face. Kelley searched Hope's eyes, not sure what she was looking for. Hope nodded to herself. "That's all I have to say. Goodbye Kelley."


	8. The Firefight

                Hope slowly paced back and forth in the backroom of King County Print Shop. The Coach had called in another favor - a threat, more likely - for the closed print shop to be open to Hope and her crew. The backdoor opened and Alex walked in, carrying a duffel bag, followed by Tobin and Megan, each with their own bag.  
                Hope nodded at them in greeting and walked to the table in the middle of the room. It was covered in a plastic tarp and the women tossed their bags upon it. Carli walked in a moment later and pulled her sunglasses off. "You got the uniforms?" She asked by way of greeting.  
                Hope leaned against a counter and nodded. She threw a thumb behind her to yet another duffel. Carli moved to it an inspected its contents. Police uniforms and paramedic uniforms. Kevlar vests for all of them. Perfect. Carli turned to the others. "Well. Let's get cleaned up. That money's not going rob itself."  
                With that, the women went about pulling on gloves and quickly cleaning their weapons and ammo. It was routine by now and they moved with quick, yet precise efficiency. Hope and Carli moved to a small curtained window. Hope peered outside. Carli leaned against the wall, arms folded. She looked at Hope.  
                "You watch the match?"  
                "No. Heard The Sounders won."  
                "Good game. First time they won it. Better for us. Victory celebration tomorrow means more employees working today to prep for it." Carli mused. Hope didn't see how that made it better. She waited until Hope repositioned the curtain to cover the window. "You sure you're up for this?"  
                Hope stared at her. "You know I wasn't. But now I have to be. Thanks, by the way. I really appreciate it."  
                Carli rolled her eyes. "You'll thank me later and mean it once you have three quarters of a million in your pocket."  
                Hope ignored that. "If this thing goes right. It could be your chance to turn around too."  
                Carli tilted her head. "What? You want me to pack up my things and head for the mountains too? Wanna help me build that log cabin?"  
                "Do me a favor, Car. With the weight of this thing. Pack a parachute at least."  
                "You know the funniest thing about being in prison is? People pretending they want to get out. I can't do any more time, Hope. So if we get jammed up.  We're holding court on the street." With that, Carli pushed off the wall and walked across the room to pull uniform pieces out of a bag. She disappeared down the hall to change. Hope sighed and took a few moments to watch the other three women as they continued to clean their weapons. Hope glanced at her watch. One hour to go. She took a deep breath.  
  
                Twenty-five minutes later, the women emerged from the back of the print shop. Hope and Carli, in their Seattle Police uniforms, hats, and sunglasses, walked down the alley and made for the stadium, two blocks away. Megan climbed into a VeraCom van and drove the opposite direction. She'd park it at the opposite end of the stadium and get to work on her own. Alex and Tobin, both dressed as paramedics, waited for fifteen more minutes before making their way toward a stadium entrance as well.  
                Megan parked the van and climbed out. She hopped a waist high fence near the stadium and with a discreet look in each direction, pulled up a grate that would grant her access into a small underground wiring tunnel. She climbed through easily enough and rode a service elevator to the server room. She clicked her walkie-talkie on and hooked it into her belt. She glanced at the small room until her eyes landed on an orange box. She popped the lid off with relative ease and eyed the wires inside. Her job was mostly done. Now she had to wait for the signal.  
                Alex and Tobin turned a corner and came face to face with an old man sitting at a table near a garage-door entrance to the stadium. He eyed their bags and uniforms, easily waved them inside.  
                "Hey, wait a second!" He yelled at the two of them. Alex looked at Tobin. Tobin looked at Alex. They turned around slowly to the man. He waved the newspaper in his hand. "You gals know a six letter word for slim-fitting skirt with a straight, narrow cut? This crossword is killing me." Tobin relaxed.  
                Alex smiled, "Pencil skirt."  
                The man stared at her. "Yeah?"  
                "Trust me," Tobin replied with a grin of her own. "This woman knows her fashion."  
                "Well," the man glanced down at his paper through his bifocals. "It fits. Hey, have a great day, ladies."  
                "You too," Alex replied. She nudged Tobin with her elbow and the two continued on their way into the stadium. Random employees were going about their business. Most of them cleaning from the Cup match last night and others were bringing in stock and merchandise to prepare for tomorrow's festivities. Thankfully, the Coach had been right with his books and had predicted a Seattle win which in turn would produce a city wide celebration. A parade would be held tomorrow that would end at the stadium itself. Had Seattle not won, two paramedics walking in the day after a match would seem a little off - even to the most distracted gate attendant. But that's what back up uniforms and back up bribes were for.

  
\------  
                Hope followed Carli to a side door of the stadium and knocked four times. The door swung open and a disgruntled, bearded employee opened the door. He let them in without a word and gestured for them to follow him. The three made their way down the cinder block hallway and turned a corner. He led them down two flights of stairs. They stopped fifteen yards later at another set of stairs. He kept his eyes down the hallway. "Take these stairs to the bottom. A door on your left will take you to one more door with a single hallway. Take that hallway down and it'll lead you to the cash room. And remember," he grumbled, "You never saw me."  
                Carli smirked and patted him on the arm. "The Coach sends his thanks. Good luck on the races next time, Mike."  
                Hope rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses and began descending the stairs. Carli followed suit and the two women climbed down quickly. They walked down the hall, remembering the maps and floor plans the Coach had provided them until they came to a locked door. Carli dropped her duffel and unzipped it. She pulled out a small, battery powered, three-inch circular saw and hit the power button. The carbide wheel sparked against the metal lock of the door and within minutes, they were inside. They faced the next door and looked at each other. Hope pulled up her walkie-talkie.  
                "We're in. You ready?"  
                Megan held up the radio to her mouth and pulled two wires and examined them. She grabbed a pair of wire cutters from her tool belt and poised it over the first of six wires. "Ready. Cutting the security feed to the Cash Room lobby in five seconds."  
                Hope clipped her walkie-talkie back to her uniform's coat and nodded to Carli. Together they walked through the next door.  
                A young, blonde man blinked at the security cameras just outside the cash room. The feed to all six monitors had cut out and he was left staring at black screens. He was about to pick up the phone when he heard a voice down the hall call out.  
                "Who called 911?"  
                He, along with the two armed security officers walked into the open hallway as Hope and Carli slowly approached, police badges glinting in the shadowed hallway.    
                "What?" He called back, hands on his hips. He watched the two police officers make their way toward him and the guards.  
                "I said who called us?" Hope asked again, voice firm. The two security guards looked at each other then back to the women.  
                "We didn't call 911," one of them replied.  
                "A robbery guys, come on," Carli replied as the two groups came closer to each other.  
                "There's no robbery. We didn't call anyone."  
                "Then why are we here?" Hope asked in a frustrated tone. She and Carli came to a stop eight feet from the group. She put a hand on her hip and dropped the duffel bag with the other. Carli dropped hers as well and crossed her arms.  
                "Let me call Roger," the blonde employee said. He reached for the walkie-talkie attached to the belt of his khakis.  
                "We just passed Roger. He's the one who let us in," Hope explained with a sigh.  
                "Look boys. We got a distress call. So who made the call, huh?"  
                "No one made any call," a guard replied.  
                "Listen, for our safety and for everyone's safety, we're going to need to see some IDs, all right?" Carli demanded and unfolded her arms.  
                "We've been here all morning!" Exclaimed one of the guards. We always work down here. Take it easy."              
                "My partner asked for your IDs," Hope interrupted. She held a hand toward them. "We don't know you. Until we can identify all the parties involved, we're gonna need to see some IDs and everyone on the ground. Right now!"  
                The elder guard reached for his holstered pistol and kept one hand on it and held the other up toward the women.  
                "Get your hand off your weapon," Hope demanded as her hand flew to her own pistol in its holster. Carli did the same and held a hand up to the others. The guard now completely pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Hope. She and Carli unclipped their own pistols from their holsters and trained them back at him.  
                "Whoa, whoa, hold on!" the second guard shouted, his hands spread wide. The blonde employee shrunk away from everyone.  
                "Put the weapon down!" Carli yelled. "All of you, get down now!"  
                "Get down! All of you on the ground now!"  
                The guard hesitated for a few moments while the police officers continued to yell their directives. He cursed silently to himself, set his pistol on the ground, and hit the floor. The other men followed suit and fell to their stomachs. Hope and Carli then made quick work and zip-tied their hands behind their backs. The women nodded to each other after everyone was secure and pulled up their black neck warmers that had been tucked down under their chins. The warmers, coupled with their black sunglasses obscured their faces almost completely.  
                "What the fuck?" yelled one of the guards once he realized they'd been had by two impersonating thieves.  
                Carli stood over the tied-up men while Hope walked over to a heavy, metal, door. She banged on it with her gloved  fist.  
                "In the cash room," she called out. "Arnold Fitzpatrick. You live at 9253 24th Avenue Southwest. You have a wife named Patricia. Do not make a distress call. Also in the cash room. Henry Collins. You live at 3999 Corliss Avenue North. You have a wife, Heather two kids in college and a mastiff named Ogre.  Guys. Heather and Patricia want you to open this door. We have men outside your homes. "  
                Two seconds later a buzzer sounded and the green door swung open. Hope raised her pistol and aimed it at the small balding man. "Back up, Arnold. Henry. Get off your chair. I want you both facing the corner. Hands behind your back." The middle-aged men quickly complied and Carli came into the room with both duffel bags. She paused and eyed the seemingly countless stacks on the stainless steel table. To her right, a few automated machines were counting bills and stacking them neatly. She smiled under her mask and unzipped the bags.  
                She and Hope made quick work to pile the money into the bags. Hope moved to a shelf and pulled out small boxes of rolled up coins and dumped it to the floor. She reached to the back of the shelf and pulled out even more stacks of banded money. Within minutes, the duffel bags were full and barely zipped close.  
                Carli guided both men to the bolted-down stainless steel table and zip-tied each of them to a leg on opposite ends. "You think because you're women you're gonna get away with this?" Henry seethed. "Even if you get out of here, I know people. You bitches are gonna pay for this in prison!"  
                Carli laughed and slapped him on the side of his head. "Don't worry about it old man. No one's going to prison."  
                The two women carried the bags down the opposite way they came and came to a blue metal door. They looked at each other and stuffed their face scarves under their chins. Hope nodded and they exited the hallway and began ascending a stairwell that would lead them back to the main level of the stadium.

\------

                "Abby," Heather spoke and brought Abby out of her thoughts as she scanned her peg board once more.  
                "Hmm?" Abby asked and turned around to face Heather.  
                "We got something suspicious going on over at the stadium."  
                Abby's eyebrows knitted. "What do you mean?"  
                "Well, today's a cleanup and prep day from the MLS cup yesterday. Lots of money, y'know?" Abby nodded and Heather continued. "One of my people pulling security at the stadium radioed in that the cash room has gone offline. Communication that is. For events like this, it's a new policy that the cash room check in every fifteen minutes with head of security. Security is headed down there as we speak. It could be nothing, but..." Heather shrugged.  
                "Solo." Damn it. Abby picked up her walkie-talkie and radioed in to dispatch to bring all units in the vicinity to close off any and all access to and from the stadium. It was a fifteen minute car ride but Abby would make it in five if she had to. It was a race against time and Abby would not walk away the loser this time.

                Carli and Hope carried their four duffel bags of money for a good walk until they spotted Tobin and Alex walking with their own duffel bag and guiding an empty stretcher toward them. The women turned into a small alcove where Hope and Carli shoved two of the black duffel bags into the larger red bags the other women produced. Tobin zipped up the second red bag and patted the white cross on its side.  
                Hope nodded at the two younger women and Alex gave a small smile back. They guided the stretcher back into the main concourse and didn't look back. With some of the money being taken one way, half of the take would be secure. This ensured that even if someone in the group was caught, not all of their effort would be in vain. Hope would never trust anyone else with the kind of money but she knew that through years of robberies and crimes, this circle of women would not give way to selfishness.  
                Hope and Carli continued on, each with their own duffel bags to a staircase that would bring them down to the garage level of the stadium where money trucks, ambulances, as well as cargo and delivery vans would be parked. Hope switched the load to her left hand and led the way down.  
                Carli followed close behind until the women reached a lone ambulance. Hope tapped on its back door and glanced around. Her eyebrows furrowed at the quietness of lower levels. The doors opened wide and Megan, now dressed as a paramedic, helped the women load the duffel bags into the rear of the van. Hope and Carli pulled their police gear off and piled it inside the van. Now, the three paramedics were ready to go.  
                The hair on the back of Hope's skin rose and she glanced around once again. The only thing near them was an armored truck with its driver inside. He had his radio on to some sport talk radio and his nose buried in a newspaper. He hadn't noticed the women and probably wouldn't notice anything until the garage doors opened.  
                But right at this moment, Hope glanced around, it was eerily silent. Even for the lower levels of this stadium that was _built_ to carry noise. She walked over to a nearby window and looked outside.  
                There.  
                On the street, a few dozen cops in uniforms and riot gear were milling about. No sirens. No big noise.  
                "Shit," she mumbled.  
  
\------

 

                Abby pulled a shotgun out of the trunk of her unmarked car as Heather got off the radio inside. She climbed out and wandered to the back of the car.  
                "No vans or suspicious vehicles parked anywhere around here. Any vehicles with drivers have been ID'd and none of them fit this group of girls."  
                Abby swore. "There's no way we can be late. We had units surrounding this place within _seconds_ ," Abby sighed. She raised her voice and began to shout a few directions to get the streets cleared of bystanders. "Get them out of here, let's go! If they don't have a badge I don't want them within five blocks of this place!"

\------

                Carli patted Pinoe on the back and grinned. "Let's get the hell out of here." She began to turn away completely from Megan when a flash caught her eye. She squinted and saw it again. A small rectangular mirror about thirty yards down the way. She sneered and reached into the back of the ambulance and pulled out one of the automatic rifles and began firing a few rounds.  
                Hope whipped her head from the scene of officers outside who began to run toward the stadium doors half a block down while others hunkered down behind their vehicles, guns raised and pointed toward the garage doors.  
                Megan climbed out of the van and tossed a rifle to Hope while she brought a strap over her shoulder and crouched down by a pillar. Hope took cover near the back of the van and kept the brick wall of the stadium against her back. She glanced around a pillar and saw the small group of SWAT officers hunched against a wall. They all took cover as Carli opened fire again.  
                Megan let out a few rounds as well and within seconds, both sides were firing on each other. Bullets whizzed by Hope's head and she let out a few rounds. The echoing of machine gun fire hurt her ears but she couldn't dwell on it. Megan made for the driver door of the ambulance when a bullet knocked her to the ground.  
                She let out a heavy groan and Hope immediately fell to her knees next to the blonde.  
                "I'm fine! They got the vest," Megan wheezed out. Another shot rang out, this time making Hope's ears ring and she looked up. The driver from the armored vehicle was shooting out of one of the side gun ports. Hope pulled Megan back behind a pillar and yelled to Carli. "Your neck, Pinoe. A bullet got you in the neck,"  
                Megan waved a hand, "It's fine." Hope pursed her lips and ducked as another shot rang out from the armored vehicle. Hope shot a few rounds at the glass and the driver ducked away.  
                "Carli! Get the garage door. Pinoe, cover fire!"  
                Pinoe sat up and continued to let a few bursts go toward the SWAT officers. Carli scrambled to the garage door and hit the red button. Hope ran up to the truck and stuck the barrel of her rifle into the gun port of the armored vehicle and released a few rounds. The driver climbed back into the driver's seat and started the vehicle up. Within seconds, he hit the gas pedal and the truck lumbered out of the garage port. Hope didn't lay off the trigger until she nearly ran into the wall of the stadium.  
                "Close it!" Hope yelled. She watched the truck run headlong into a group of squad cars and caught sight of the surrounding police force open fire on the vehicle. The last thing she saw before the garage door slid shut was the truck crashing straight through a small shop on the opposite side of the street. Immediately the police swarmed the vehicle. It would only give Hope and her crew a few moments to breathe and regroup but the SWAT team inside the stadium was still advancing.  
                Carli and Hope resumed positions near pillars and took turns letting off a few rounds. Carli hit a SWAT member in the leg and let off more rounds as a few members of the team pulled the officer back out of the line of fire. "Let's get the fuck outta here!"  Carli yelled as she tossed her rifle into the ambulance and pulled out a freshly loaded rifle.  
                Hope was about to respond when a small canister flew past her head. "Cover your ears!" Hope yelled and immediately slapped her hands over each ear. Megan and Carli ducked down and followed suit as a deafening boom resounded throughout the lower level, followed by one more. Concussive grenades.  
                A high pitched ringing was all that Hope could hear as she tried to regain her center of gravity. She leaned against a pillar and took a deep breath. She looked to Megan and Carli and the two seemed to be in a similar state. Hope peeked around the pillar and saw the SWAT team advancing even more. She let out a few rounds and another officer dropped and was pulled away. Hope had no idea where she even hit him but if that took one less gun out of the fight, so be it.  
                Carli let out a few rounds before Rapinoe let out a cough and called to both women. They huddled up behind a large metal vending cart. "Listen," Pinoe rasped out, "By now they've radioed in our IDs. They're looking for paramedics. Not cops. Get your uniforms back on. I'll take the van and drive it out of here." Hope opened her mouth to protest but Pinoe painfully nodded, "I can barrel through. Make a getaway. And if not," she coughed again "Well, I'm good if they pinch me," she chuckled. "I'll only give them your first names."  
                Hope and Carli looked to each other and Megan continued on. "You two beat it out a side door and bail me out later. Now get those hats and coats back on."  
                The women nodded and took turns laying down cover fire while the other changed. Pinoe climbed into the driver's seat and gave a small wave as Hope slammed the back doors shut. Carli hit the garage door button to open it and scrambled into the shadows wear Hope and the duffel bags were waiting.  
                The tires burned out on the slick concrete when Pinoe hit the gas. Immediately shots from outside rang out and Hope heard the thunk, thunk, thunk as every bullet slug embedded itself into the metal sides of the ambulance. Hope and Carli slung their small automatic rifles to their sides and zipped up their coats.  
                "Hey freeze!" a voice called out.  
                Hope glanced over her shoulder. It was clear.  
                "Fuck you, SWAT," a voice replied. Hope peeked around the corner and saw the SWAT team and a team of patrol officers walking toward each other.  
                Hope turned back to Carli. "See you in Colorado, Car."  
                Carli smirked. "I'll see you when you get back."  
                Another squad of police officers were nearing their alcove so Carli took point and walked into them. "Let's go guys. These SWAT assholes are claiming the scene."  
                This caused a few grumbles between the patrol officers and the group headed down another hallway while the SWAT team congratulated each other on a job well done.  
                "Pricks," one of the policemen muttered and elbowed Hope.  
                "Complete pricks," Hope agreed and as the group of officers began to disperse, she wandered off down the hallway and didn't look back.  
               

\------

                Abby walked up to the bullet-ridden and smoking ambulance that was lodged in between two cars half a block down. She surveyed the wreck as she got closer and looked inside. The only body inside was that of Megan Rapinoe. The windshield was shattered and she was covered in blood. Abby sighed and shook her head. One down. Four to go. She looked around as she overheard Heather speaking to another officer.  
                "I don't know what kind of mook they have running security in the cash room, but the men down there are saying they were hit by cops. Not paramedics. Cops."  
                "Cops? You're sure?"  
                "Positive. Regular Seattle PD uniforms."  
                Abby scanned the cops who were now milling about. SWAT members, patrol officers, plainclothes. They were all strangers to her. Damn it.  
                Abby led the way to her unmarked car and climbed in the passenger seat. Heather slid into the driver's wheel and started up the engine. The vehicle rolled at a steady pace as they scanned the faces. Abby watched every interaction of any officer her eyes fell upon and was about to call it a wash when she saw it. There. One cop, duffel bag in hand, walking at a quick pace _away_ from the scene. Most other cops were either walking toward the stadium or standing about.  
                "Pull over right here," Abby said and climbed out once HAO stopped the car. Abby continued a casual following of the duffel-toting officer as they rounded a corner. She peeked around the corner and watched the cop turn into a parking lot.  
                Hope emerged from the stadium a few minutes later and watched as Carli rounded the corner and then her eyes fell upon Inspector Wambach's leisurely pursuit. Hope pursed her lips and followed the two at a safe distance.  
                "Officer, can you hold up a minute?" Abby called as she too entered the dual entrance parking lot.  
                Carli adjusted the duffel on her shoulder and kept walking.  
                "I've got a visual on Lloyd. Following her south on 4th. Past the Salvation Army," Abby spoke into her radio.  
                "Officer!" Abby tried again and smirked. "Lloyd."  
                Carli stopped. In a split second she whirled around and held down the trigger of her rifle. Abby dove for cover behind a car. The bullets kept coming and as Abby scrambled to her feet, Carli rounded the corner and with a straight face, pulled the trigger a few more times. Abby stumbled around the corner once again as a bullet whizzed by her ear.  
                The bullets stopped and Abby peeked over the car. Carli was running. She dropped the duffel bag and fired another burst toward the inspector. Abby gave chase for a few blocks until they almost literally ran into traffic. Abby skidded to a stop before a car zipped past. Carli ran through the parking lot of a Shell gas station and tucked down into a covered bus stop. She let a few rounds go and Abby ducked behind a parked car on the opposite side of the street. She radioed in their location and took a moment to catch her breath.  
                Hope caught up to the two and was overlooked as other squad cars filled the vicinity. Hope jogged to a stop and eased herself behind a light pole, pistol in hand. She watched Carli reload her gun and fire a few rounds at various cruisers. Hope winced as a bullet tore through Carli's thigh. The woman dropped to a knee and yelled out in both anger and pain.  
                A few more rounds lit up the bus stop and Carli took cover.  
                "Lloyd! Throw down your weapon!" Abby hollered from behind a cruiser.  
                "Fuck you, Wambach!" Carli sneered.  
                "Lloyd, let me see those hands or-" Abby was cut off as Carli spent the last few rounds of her rifle. Carli threw it away and reached for the service pistol on her belt. She fired the rest of the magazine toward the sound of Wambach's voice.  
                "You have thirty seconds, Carli! 30 seconds or it's over!"  
                Carli shivered and looked down at her leg. A giant puddle of blood was forming beneath her. She nodded to herself and looked around her enclosure. With a heavy sigh she yelled out "Fine! I surrender!"  
                Hope's heart sank as she watched Carli grab her pistol and the rifle in each hand and haul herself up. Not a second had passed before shots rang out and Carli slumped to the ground. Hope couldn't breathe. Her jaw dropped, her hands got clammy and her ears were on fire. The ringing sound from earlier replayed itself as she watched officers swarm over Carli's limp form on the ground. She watched Abby approach Carli and kneel down next to her. Hope swallowed hard and all of a sudden she realized where she was again. Hope glanced around and saw that all of the officers had their attention on Carli.  
                Hope slid into the driver seat of a police cruiser and eased it down the street. She turned into a parking lot and retraced her steps. She glanced around and steered the car to the forgotten duffel bag in the parking lot where Carli had opened fire on Wambach. The tires crunched the gravel as it slowed to a halt and Hope swung the door opened, pulled the duffel bag inside and tossed it onto the passenger seat.  
                She was about to ease the cruiser back onto 4th when an Ambulance crawled by and cut her off. Hope looked at the driver and was ready to exit the vehicle. She did a double take then smiled. The driver looked back and gave her a smile. At least Tobin and Alex got out of this unscathed. If they were smart - and they were - they'd switch vehicles as soon as they could and never turn back. Alex waved from the passenger seat and the ambulance continued on its way. Hope turned the opposite way, her next destination in mind.  
                Hope pulled the police cruiser into the small parking lot next to Sermanni's shop. She walked in the front door and hurried over to Benny. "Ben, something's gone wrong," Hope said and ran a hand through her hair.  
                Benny leaned forward, "Whaddya mean?"  
                Hope gestured for him to lean closer. When he did, she let a single shot from her pistol enter through the side of his head. The gunman slumped off his stool and landed in a heap on the ground. Hope stepped over him and made her way to the back room.  
                "Tom!" she called out.  
                A moment later, Sermanni exited from the bathroom with a pistol in his hand. The two spared no time in emptying their clips into each other's chests. The Coach coughed and stumbled backwards into a rack of hockey sticks. Hope rubbed at her Kevlar vest. When her fingers came away without a drop of blood she walked over and knelt next to a stunned looking Sermanni.  
                "Looks like I'm the one who broke you, Coach," Hope whispered. Tom's eyes widened and Hope fired her last bullet into his heart.

\------  
                "Kelley?" Hope's voice came in crystal clear over the phone. Kelley pressed her ear to the phone tighter.  
                "Are you okay?" Kelley asked as she stared as her shoes.  
                "I'm um... I'm okay. I just really want to see you," Hope replied. Kelley sighed and ran her palm down the thigh of her leg, flattening out the non-existent wrinkles in her jeans.  
                "It has to be soon," Hope urged.  
                Kelley stood up and walked to the window of her living room and look out over the street. "I don't have a lot of time," Hope said and sounded downright anxious. "Can you meet me?"  
                Kelley took a deep breath and nodded. "Can you come here?" Kelley asked and swallowed the lump in her throat.  Her gaze left the street below as she turned around and came face to face with Inspector Wambach. Abby smiled. She patted Kelley on the shoulder with one hand and gave her a thumbs up with the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh. Well. Now I see the reasoning for using cliffhangers.


	9. The End

_Kelley stood up and walked to the window of her living room and look out over the street. "I don't have a lot of time," Hope said and sounded downright anxious. "Can you meet me?"_  
                Kelley took a deep breath and nodded. "Can you come here?"  Kelley's gaze left the street below her as she turned around and came face to face with Inspector Wambach. Abby smiled. She patted Kelley on the shoulder with one hand and gave her a thumbs up with the other.  
  


                "You want me to come to your place?" Hope asked. She clenched the cell phone in her hand, knuckles turning white. Across the street and one floor up in the opposing apartment building gave Hope a perfect vantage point of Kelley's apartment. She pursed her lips and raised a set of binoculars to her eyes. Behind Kelley and Wambach were a few other officers, with various pieces of equipment set up. Of course the call was being recorded.  
                "Mm-hmm" Kelley returned. Hope watched her nod her head, ponytail bouncing up and down.  
                Hope dropped the binoculars to her side. "I don't think that's such a good idea," Hope said.  
                Kelley hesitated. Abby nodded at her and Kelley leaned her forehead against the cool window pane. "Why not?"  
                "What if there are police there, Kel?"  
                "There's no one here. It's just me, Hope."  
                Hope shut her eyes. Damn it. Her chest clenched. Her stomach dropped. Her knees wobbled and she put a steadying hand against the windowsill. She had lost Kelley and now, the younger woman was working with the police to catch her. Hope cleared her throat, swallowing the lump that had formed. "All right well... If you think that's what I should do then I guess I'll head over."  
                "Okay," Kelley replied, almost too quickly. If Hope wasn't looking at her now, that response alone would've raised suspicion.  
                Hope rubbed her neck and looked to the ceiling. "Listen, Kelley," she started and took a shuddering breath, "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for what I did to you." She dropped her gaze back to Kelley and saw that she had pressed her palm to her mouth, and looked completely broken. Wambach still hovered too closely, her ear almost on the phone as well. The inspector had a steadying hand on Kelley's shoulder. Hope glared at the inspector. "You have to know that I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry, Kelley. I... I love you. Remember that. Anyway," Hope took a deep breath, "I'll be over in an hour. Come to the back and let me in?"  
                "Yeah. Okay, I'll be waiting," Kelley answered. Abby grinned and walked over to her partner. She patted Heather on the back and shot her a beaming smile.  Heather gave a thumbs up to one of the officers at the recording machine. She then pointed to a few cops and then to the door. The officers began to quickly disperse into the hallway and down the stairs.  
                "All right, well. I'll see you soon then," Hope said. She pulled the phone away and her eyes stayed trained on Kelley. She ignored the stinging sensation in them that threatened to turn into something more.  
                "Hope?" Kelley spoke up. Her voice seemed far away and Hope brought the phone back to her ear. "Hope?"  
                "Yeah?"  
                "I want you to come. I really want to see you." Kelley took a breath, her shoulders visibly rising and falling. Then her eyes scanned the sky above the street. "It'll be like one of my sunny days."  
                Hope's heart seemed to skip a beat and she grinned, remembering their conversation from weeks ago.

\-----  
 _Kelley looked to Hope for a moment then back to the park. She took a breath. "My brother died on a day like this."_  
                Hope's eyebrows knitted in concern. "What? When?"  
                "When we were little. He died of Lymphoma." She got a faraway look in her eyes. "Now on really sunny days, I just think of people dying. Of him dying." She slowly nodded and seemed to come out of her semi-trance. She looked up to Hope. "That's wrong isn't it?"  
                "No," Hope started and reached forward to grasp Kelley's hand. She ran her thumb over the freckled knuckles. "I'm sure he'd be glad you're thinking of him. Plus... This is a good day. I'm having a good time with you, Kel."  
\-----  
                Hope nodded and took a deep, steadying breath. "Well um, I'm on my way then," Hope said. The corners of her mouth tugged into a smile. "I'll see you really soon, Kel. I love you."  
                Kelley let out a small smile of her own, her back to Wambach. "I love you too. Bye."  
                "Goodbye, Kelley."

                Hope tossed the cell phone onto a nearby table and turned to the closet. She pulled the doors open and revealed a few items of clothing, including a King County Metro uniform. She pulled the clothes off the hanger and quickly changed from her cop uniform into the bus driver uniform. She stuffed the cop gear into her duffel bag and left within minutes. She adjusted the hat on her head and once she climbed to the rooftop access door, she pulled on some sunglasses and jogged to the edge of the building.   
                She easily covered the small gap between the neighboring buildings and did so again with the next building. She maneuvered down a fire escape and glanced around before walking down the alley, away from Kelley's apartment.  
  
                Abby surveyed the immediate area and turned her walkie-talkie volume down. She looked to Heather, then her watch. Fifteen minutes had passed. Officers were calling in, noting their various positions. "Listen. If she doesn't show, I want our people everywhere. Five mile radius. Buses. Greyhounds. Ferries. Car rentals. The works. Got it?"  
                Heather nodded and walked off, a walkie-talkie to her mouth. After she finished giving out initial directions she ambled back over to Abby and clapped her on the shoulder.  
                "How'd you know Solo would head this way?" HAO asked as she watched two SWAT team members climb a fire escape to the roof of an adjacent building.  
                "Well," Abby started as she pulled her own bullet-proof vest tighter around her. "I figured it out only a bit ago. It's almost too easy to put together now. I mean, she hits the stadium first, right?" At Heather's nod, Abby continued. "Then we get a call from dispatch. Sermanni was taken out. A few bullets to the chest. By that time, it's process of elimination. You know Solo needed a clean get away. So she took the Coach out on his own turf to seal the deal and protect herself and maybe this one," she jerked her head in the direction of Kelley.   
                Heather turned her gaze to the freckled woman who was being set up with her own bullet-proof vest by an officer. He adjusted the straps then helped her pull her pea coat on and ensured it was buttoned securely to hide the vest.  
                "You think she's gonna show up?" Heather asked, turning back to Abby. The taller woman let out a small smirk.  
                "She has to.  O'Hara is the last piece of the puzzle."

                Hope rounded a corner and nearly ran into two uniformed police officers who were standing on a corner. One of them raised a hand. "You all right ma'am?" He eyed her uniform for a second before looking into her sunglasses.  
                "Yeah, fine," Hope replied. "Just heading to work."  
                "All right. Keep off the streets please."  
                "Sure thing," Hope answered and gave a slight wave. She hiked the duffel bag into a better position and continued across the street. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the cops had already lost interest in her and were laughing at something else entirely. She let out a sigh of relief and continued down the block. She glanced at her watch. 45 minutes to go until she was due at Kelley's. She walked through an alley and cast off the cop gear into a dumpster and emerged on the other end, duffel still in hand.   
                A few minutes later, Hope came across the small community garden that Kelley was so fond of. She stopped in her tracks and glanced around. No one was near her. She opened the small wooden gate and walked deeper into the garden, disappearing into the sunflowers that had grown ridiculously tall.   
                She dropped to her knees at Kelley's favorite plot in the garden and began to dig into the damp soil.  
  
                Fifteen minutes later, Hope wandered down the street and walked into the parking lot of the King County Metro station. Numerous buses were lined up ready to depart or break for the day. She easily clambered into  an empty bus, started it up, and pulled out of the station. She let out a small smile to herself and eased the bus into the midday Seattle highway traffic.  It took only a matter of minutes to cross the bridge and direct the bus to a mass transit center. She parked the bus next to a few other buses and disembarked from it. She turned toward the train station and made for the nearest ticket counter.  
  
                Abby leaned against the wall, hands in her pockets. A voice sounded over the radio. An hour had passed and no sign of Solo in the perimeter. Abby looked from her watch to Kelley, who stood opposite her on the small patio of the apartment building. Kelley brought her coat lapels closer to her in an effort to stave off the chill that had set in the air.  
                Abby glanced up at the sky. There was a heavy overcast that had settled hours ago and showed no signs of letting up.  
                "Maybe she wasn't in love with you like she said," Abby started.  
                "I guess not," Kelley replied and crossed her arms over her chest.  
                "My sunny days..." Abby trailed off. A frown covered her face and she glared at Kelley, realization sinking in. "Seattle isn't known for sunny days, Ms. O'Hara."  
                Kelley merely gazed back at Wambach, no emotion showing on her face.  
                "It's going to rain, Kelley. Sooner than you think. This is going to escalate to a _national_ organization," Abby warned. Kelley merely raised an eyebrow and watched Abby walk into the alley, walkie-talkie to her mouth "Pack it in people. Solo isn't coming. I want airports, buses, highways and all transportation covered. Get the description out."  
                She continued down the alley and over a few blocks until she reached her squad car. Her eyebrows furrowed at a piece of crumpled up paper wedged in her police antenna. Abby looked around. No one was in the perimeter. She unfolded the paper and read it.   
                _I'm still the one telling you to go fuck yourself, Wambach._  
                Abby crumpled the paper and cursed.  
                  
                Hope settled into her seat on the train and watched as the scenery turned into a blur as the train picked up speed. In twenty hours, she'd be completely removed from all of this and on a ranch somewhere in the Colorado Rockies. She looked at her watch and took a deep breath. On the exhale her shoulders felt lighter. In five minutes, she should be rounding the corner to Kelley's building. In five minutes, maybe more if Wambach gave her the benefit of the doubt, the inspector would be fuming.

\-----  
                  
                Kelley pushed some stray hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. She dug deeper into the dirt to get at the bottom if a particularly stubborn weed that had taken root. Her eyes fell upon something dark. She dug around the material and found it to be a buried black canvas duffel bag. She tugged it out of the dirt and unzipped it.  
                Inside were piles of banded hundred dollar bills and folded piece of paper.  
                  
                _Kelley,_  
                Take this. You can do better with it than I ever could. By the time you read this, I'll be long gone. Not the way I planned it, but for the first time in my life, I'm leaving this city. No matter how much you've changed, you still have to pay the price for what you've done. I've got a long road and it'll be dusty, but I know that I'll see you again.  
  
                Kelley dropped the note to her lap, ignoring that her soil-covered gloves had dirtied it. She dug through the bag until she reached the bottom. There, under all the cash, was a horse shoe with SOLO engraved on its curve. She looked around and sighed. She let her thumb run over the surface of the horseshoe and tossed it back into the bag with a smile.

 __  
\-----  


                Kelley stood next to Amanda on the almost still too-new bleachers of the remodeled soccer pitch. The women clapped and cheered along with the rest of the high school team's supporters as the girls on the field cheered and hefted their championship trophy over their heads. Richland High School had dethroned the reigning champions and were basking in the glory.  
                Kelley smiled and crossed her arms over her torso. She looked to the scoreboard. 4-3. A goal had been made in the last seconds of the game by Amanda's niece. Just like last time during the playoff match, Kelley and Amanda made their way into the school for a post-match celebration for the team, friends, and family.   
                Kelley stopped at the trophy case and she looked at the photo of a younger Hope Solo. She sighed.  
                "You know," Amanda startled Kelley out of her reverie, "The reason we have a new field and funding for the soccer program came from her."  
                "What?" Kelley turned to Amanda.  
                "Well, not Hope Solo. But this ridiculous anonymous gift to the program was made in honor of that girl's dad. I guess he died or something, years ago." Kelley turned to Amanda, feigning being impressed and surprised.  
                "Really? That's amazing."  
                "It is. The girls love their new field. Hopefully it helps them with a lot more championships from now on," Amanda laughed and nudged Kelley in the direction of the gym.

\-----

                  
                A light breeze made its way around the grounds, rustling leaves on trees and making the green grass sway like an ocean. She swiped at the stray strands of hair that obscured her vision and tucked them behind an ear before she continued brushing down a dark, chestnut-colored filly. The horse let out a small whinny and turns its head to nudge her in the shoulder. The woman smiled and patted it on the neck.  
                The horse nuzzled her hand and in an instant, looked past her shoulder, ears trained forward. She turned around and followed the horses gaze to the gate of the enclosure, and then past it to the dusty road that led to the entrance of the ranch. Nothing. She was about to turn around when she saw the yellow roof of a taxi crest the hill. The vehicle drove slowly, kicking up dust in its wake and she kept her eyes on the vehicle. It was easy to get lost this high in the mountains and GPS wasn't always reliable.  
                The car rolled to a stop and the passenger door opened. She pushed the hair back behind her ear again, too distracted to be frustrated with her hair and the wind. Her breath hitched as a reddish-brown crop of hair gleamed in the sunlight. The passenger hefted a small bag out with her and waved to the cabbie. Within moments the car had disappeared down the hill again and Hope was left standing there next to her horse. Her feet were glued to the ground. She could barely breathe.  
                The horse shot a hot breath out of its nostrils, still wary of the stranger who had shown up. The hot air on the back of her neck kicked Hope into motion. She took a few shaky steps forward and couldn't help the smile that took over her face as Kelley dropped her bag and, with a smile big enough to match Hope's, abandoned her things in the middle of the road and hurried to the fence that separated the women.  
                Hope clambered over the old yet sturdy fence and dropped to the ground. A second later, Kelley had thrown herself into Hope's arms and buried her face into the crook of Hope's neck. The taller woman smelled of pine, sweat and dust. Kelley loved it.  
                Hope wrapped her arms around Kelley's waist and shoulders and just held her. Her face was nestled into Kelley's hair and she had no plans on letting go. She felt Kelley's fingers dig into her shoulder and sides and breathed deep. God, she missed her.  
                After a few silent minutes, Hope eventually pulled back. She held Kelley at arms' distance, still not ready to break contact. Kelley smiled and latched her hands to hook onto Hope's forearms.   
                "You found me."  
                "Well," Kelley started with a small shrug, "I had some things to take of back home first. Then when I got to town, I had to find someone who actually knew you. Or at least what you looked like. Turns out the diner is a great place for information."  
                Hope grinned and took a step closer. Her hand cupped a freckled cheek and she sighed. Kelley looked her over and tilted her head. "You look good in plaid."  
                "You will too."  
                Kelley chuckled and leaned into Hope's hand. She looked up to Hope's eyes, those blue orbs sparkling with a brightness Kelley hadn't seen before.  
                "You know that this means you're stuck with me right?" Kelley asked.  
                Hope licked her lips and nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way," She pulled Kelley closer and finally, for the first time in months, crashed their lips together in a searing kiss. She felt Kelley's hands pull her closer by the back of her neck and her hands dropped down to Kelley's waist, holding her securely. Hope sighed into the kiss and drew a breath in through her nose. Those lips, smooth as ever, kissed her back equally as hard and soft at the same time. Kelley's teeth raked Hope's bottom lip when they separated. Hope rested her cheek on the top of Kelley's head.  
                Kelley turned her head, one ear to Hope's rapidly beating heart. She let her hand play with the buttons on Hope's shirt, and let her hand trace underneath the fabric near Hope's collarbone.  
                "I missed you," Hope murmured, her eyes closing at the relaxing feel of Kelley's cool fingers on her skin.  
                "I can tell," Kelley returned with a small smile.  
                Hope squeezed her and let out a chuckle. She opened her mouth to say something when she was nudged between the shoulder blades that sent the two women almost crashing to the ground in a heap of tangled legs. They barely stayed upright and Hope turned around. Her filly stood at the fence, clearly wanting the attention Hope had decided to bestow upon someone else.  
                Kelley laughed and held Hope's hand. She reached a hand up the horse cautiously sniffed at it before it nosed Kelley's upturned palm.  
                "Kelley, this is Ella," Hope said and patted the horse with her free hand.  
                "Hi Ella. Pretty girl," Kelley murmured and let her hand fall over the bridge of the horse's nose.  
                "Well," Kelley broke the silence and glanced at Hope. She patted Ella once more and let Hope lead her back to her bag in the middle of the road. "I guess this means one thing,"  
                "What's that?"  
                "If I'm going to be living here, I'll probably need a horse of my own."  
                Hope stopped short and looked at Kelley, looking for a hint of... something. Of Kelley being unsure. Of Kelley ready to break into a laugh and claim she was joking. Something. But there was nothing in her gaze except complete and total honesty.  
                "You're really staying?" She had to ask. Just to be sure.  
                Kelley scoffed and grabbed Hope's other hand. She squeezed them and brought their joined hands to her lips. "Of course. You're it for me, Solo." She kissed Hope's knuckles and smiled.   
                Any and all tension or doubt that was left in Hope immediately evaporated and her chest swelled at the immense sense of relief and comfort that took place. Her eyes traced over the freckles that seemed to swim in the sunlight, they took in Kelley's hair that even when pulled back it radiated its own glow, they became lost in that eye color that only Kelley seemed to have, a color that was now her favorite color in the world. Her thoughts still flew a mile a minute in her head. All she managed to get out was one word, and it was the only thing she could fathom.  
                "Perfect."  
               

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. That's it! Thanks for sticking around to see the end of this. And thank you all of course for your comments and kudos.


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